Rhythm And Bots
by PuraJazzBot
Summary: G1 sequel to Hit It Maestro, Jazz is now out on his own, and with Cybertron on the brink of war it upto him to make it to Iacon before the war catches up to him. But he's not as alone as he thinks he is. Ch 10 now up after a very loooong hiatus.
1. Lightshow

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

**Lightshow**

_And remember…_

_Do it with style_

_Or don't bother doing it._

Jazz's optics snapped open and he awoke from recharge with a little gasp. That dream again. He'd been having it ever since the day Maestro died – which was not long ago, only 5 days to be exact – and in it he always found himself back in the little house they used to share, just outside the town of Ferronix; back in the old mech's room, hearing him speak his last words; right before he came back online in an almighty hurry.

He sat up on the couch he'd been lying on, ran a hand across his face and then looked around. It was still a couple of hours to go before morning so the tiny living room he was in was still dark. He knew he should try and go back to sleep, but he also knew from experience that the only thing he would get out of trying it would be a lot of tossing and turning. So he didn't bother. Instead he just sat there and tried to lose himself in some happier memories for a while. Things had been so simple when Maestro was alive. Everything was black and white – a lot like his paint job. Then Maestro had died and Jazz's world had all of a sudden been tossed into a multi-spectrum of grey.

After he left the house that afternoon, a new wave of feelings and emotions had crashed into him. Abandonment, loss, fear, relief, gratefulness, sorrow; they all rushed at him and he didn't know what to do with them. He just wanted to shut them all off, so he'd headed to the one place he thought could do just that – The Cube. He sat there slowly sipping on one canister of high-grade energon after another as afternoon slowly bled into evening. He didn't care if he overcharged as long as he could numb all those feelings till he was ready to deal with them. Finally he heard the bar-mech come over to him.

"I remember you," he said. "You're Maestro's bot aren't you? How is the old mech?"

"He's dead," Jazz replied dully.

"Aw Primus! I'm sorry. Can I do anything to help ya?"

"Can you bring him back to life?" Jazz asked. The mech made no reply. "Then you can help by pouring me another drink."

"And you think that's going to help you?"

"No, but at least it'll make the hurtin' stop."

"You've never overcharged before have you, kid? Or else you'd know about the hangover it brings the next day. Trust me, you don't wanna experience one."

Jazz put his canister down. "I don't wanna deal with these emotions. I don't know HOW to deal with them."

"Them emotions're what make you alive. Without 'em you ain't nothing but a drone."

"I know that. But how do you DEAL with them?"

"Well I ain't no mind-doctor, but at a guess I'd say you give them an outlet. Release them into something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, kid. That's where you come in. Emotions feed your talents. Maestro must have given you some talents right? My advice is for you to go back home and try and figure out what them talents are."

"I don't have a home to go back to."

"Aw, slaggit." He signaled for another mech to take his place, came round the counter and helped Jazz ease off the stool. "Come with me. Your name's Jazz right?"

"Yeah. Where are we goin'?"

"Well Jazz, my name's Stirrshot. I'm taking you up to my humble abode. You're welcome to stay with me a while till you get yourself all figured out."

He led Jazz up a narrow flight of stairs to a small dwelling just above The Cube. He pushed open the door. "It ain't much, but its home. Hope you don't mind crashin' on the couch."

"Not at all. Thank you."

"No worries." He gave Jazz a nudge inside. "Now you make yourself at home, I gotta get back down to work. I'll see ya later."

After Stirrshot left Jazz gazed around the room. It was, to say the least, a veritable junkyard. Trash and all sorts of other paraphernalia covered every available flat surface. He waded through the debris over to the couch, cleared the rubbish off it, lay down and fell asleep. That was when the dreams had started. Every morning they left him so rundown that he could not even bring himself to leave the little apartment. So he spent his time slowly cleaning up Stirrshot's home.

He sighed. The happy memories were just not coming this day. Instead he just kept recalling his final moments with Maestro. He remembered the promises and the warnings. He knew he had to get his aft back in motion, but grief still weighed heavily on his shoulders and he didn't know how to shed it. He didn't even know what other talents he had – besides music. Maestro channeled his emotions into music. Maybe he could do the same.

He stood up and looked around, wondering for a moment if he should tell Stirrshot he was leaving, especially after all the mech had done for him. But Jazz didn't know if he could handle yet another goodbye. Instead he placed five credits on the table, along with a little note to say 'thank you' and quietly made his way out, and down to the street. Morning was just breaking when Jazz started walking down the road.

Jazz had been walking for days – at first strolling through familiar areas where bots, upon learning of Maestro's death, would take pity on him and offer him a place to spend the night and a few canisters of energon. Some even offered him a permanent place to move into, but as much as he would have liked to, Jazz had to politely decline. If Maestro was right about war coming to Ferronix, then he had to get as far away as possible.

He tried to talk some of the bots into coming with him, but as much as they had liked Maestro and also liked Jazz, they thought that the two mechs were also a little eccentric. They saw no need to leave their homes and strike out for the big cities just because an old mech had a bad feeling before he died.

It hurt Jazz that none of them took Maestro's warnings seriously, not even Stirrshot, which just gave him another reason to not stick around anymore. There was nothing left for him in Ferronix anyway. Bronze was gone, Maestro was gone. All that was left for him to do was to make himself gone as well.

Every step he took each day took him further and further away from the neighborhood he knew and more and more into unfamiliar territory. Places to spend the night became few and far between. Every so often he ended up sleeping in some little corner of a street when there was no one willing to take him in. At first it felt degrading – having to beg for sustenance and shelter, and sleeping on the streets when he couldn't find a place to stay – and he often wondered what Maestro would have said had he seen his creation like this.

Maestro would have said he'd done what was necessary, he realized soon enough. The old mech had told him how he'd given up his beautiful home in Polyhex and come down to Ferronix just to create him. Jazz had never been to Polyhex of course, but Maestro had described it very vividly. If Maestro could do that, then Jazz could lower himself to do this. He still had the money that Maestro had given him tucked away carefully in a subspace pocket. He was reluctant to spend it and had decided to use it only in emergencies.

Besides, once he got used to being on the streets, he realized it wasn't that bad. At least he wasn't alone. There were other bots like him who lived on the streets or in a shelter if one could be found, though he never stayed around in one place long enough to forge any friendships with those bots. No one seemed interested in striking up a conversation with him either. Each mech and femme were more content to keep to themselves, so Jazz did the same. In the little free time he had between walking (he found transforming and driving used up more fuel) and resting, he usually sat down and pulled out a datapad and began to put his emotions into words.

But not all areas were friendly neighborhoods as Jazz found out one time. He'd entered the north-eastern area of Ferronix, and after finally managing to obtain a small ration of energon from a less than friendly old femme, he settled down at a street corner to continue with his writing. That was when shadows fell across his datapad. Jazz looked up to see 3 large, bulky mechs standing in front of him, arms crossed, optics narrowed in ugly frowns. They didn't look friendly.

"Hey, can I help you mechs?" Jazz asked nonetheless.

The mech on Jazz's left reached down and hauled him roughly to his feet. Jazz took a step back, a bit startled, and felt the wall behind him. Running was not exactly an option at this moment.

"Look fellas, I don't want any trouble," he said.

"Shut up," the one in the center snapped.

Jazz immediately clamped his mouth shut. The mech took a step closer and looked him up and down.

"You're new here," he said.

"Just passing through. I'll be gone come mornin' I can assure you," Jazz replied.

The three mechs looked at each other with sneers on their faces. Then the one in the center looked back at him.

"Well then, kid," he said. "Just pay us the tax and we'll leave you alone. Simple as that."

"Tax? What tax?" Jazz asked.

"The street-tax. You pay us and you get free run of the streets – go where you like, do what you like."

"But the street's a public area. You cant impose a tax on that."

"Oh, looks like we got a smart one here," the center mech said to the one on the right.

"Heh, yeah. That's funny," the one on the right replied.

Then he lashed out, clamped a hand around Jazz's neck and yanked him forward. Jazz balanced precariously on his toes to avoid the hold becoming a choke. He didn't struggle though because something told him that doing so would only make his situation worse.

"I told you it was real simple, kid," the center mech said. "And it is. Just give us all the credits you have and we'll let you go. Refuse, and we'll take it from whatever parts are left of you."

Now Jazz was a relatively honest bot who preferred telling the truth whenever possible. However at this moment, he figured telling a little white lie might be more to his advantage. He just couldn't give these three thugs Maestro's money. And even if he did, there was no guarantee that they would let him go alive.

"I don't have any money," he said.

The grip around his throat tightened. "Wrong answer kid," the mech said.

"Think about it," Jazz tried to reason, struggling just a little now so as to loosen his vocalizer. "If I had any credits at all, would I be sleepin' out here on the streets? I'd have rented a room for the night instead."

"He is a smart mech," the bot on the left said. "I don't like smart mechs, they make me look bad."

Jazz was not in a position to mention that the mech looked bad whether or not he had a fully-functioning processing unit. With Jazz still in his grip, the mech on the right slammed him back into the wall, still maintaining his hold on Jazz's neck.

"Last chance, kid. Give us the credits or you can say hello to the scrap yard."

"I told you. I don't have any."

This time the mech raised Jazz off the ground, scraping his back along the metal wall hard enough to give off a few sparks. "I've had just about enough of you."

"HEY!" A new voice broke in. "Leave the mech alone."

Jazz was released and he dropped to his knees as the three turned to face the newcomer. Satisfied that nothing in his throat was damaged, he turned his head to get a look at his savior.

"Shut your optics Autobot!" the mech yelled.

Before Jazz knew what he was doing, his optics blacked out on their own right before a blinding light burst out from where the other mech stood. He heard shouts of pain and surprise from the three muggers and then felt a yank on his arm.

"C'mon! We gotta get outta here before those three goons realize what hit them!"

Jazz broke into a run from his kneeling position as his optics began to come back online. The mech who'd saved him still had a firm grip on his wrist and Jazz hoped that this wasn't going to be a case of 'out of the scrap-heap and into the smelter'. His vision cleared in a few seconds and the first thing he did was glance over his shoulder at the three mechs who were lying on the ground with their hands over their optics.

"Don't look back! Just follow me," the other mech said.

"Where are we goin'?" Jazz asked.

"Away from them," the mech replied. "Don't worry, I know a place we'll be safe, just keep running."

"Why don't we just transform?"

"We'd miss it that way."

The mech continued to pull Jazz along the ever-darkening streets till finally they turned into a narrow alley. It was only when they reached the dead end that he let go of Jazz's wrist.

"I think we'll be safe here for a while," he said.

"Guess I should thank you for savin' my tailpipe back there," Jazz said.

"Not a problem. Couldn't let them beat up a fellow Autobot now could I?"

"How'd you know I was an Autobot?"

"Well the big, red symbol on your chestplate is kind of a big hint. Shoulda told them to slap it on you in some place less conspicuous. Like me for instance."

The mech turned his back to Jazz and pointed to the red insignia just above his skidplate. Then he turned around to face Jazz again with a wide grin.

"The name's Lightshow."

"My name's Jazz."

"Jazz? Like the music? That is so cool."

"Uh, thanks, I think. My creator was a musician, went by the name of Maestro, but he uh… died kinda recently."

"I'm sorry. My creator's dead too. His name was Flaire. He left me to work in some factory dump and went off to help the Autobots fight down in Levatron. I heard he got killed a few weeks ago. so I quit my job and came out on the street."

"But why did you do that? At least you had a place to stay and you were given energon."

"Trust me when I say that there are worse places to live in than the streets. Out here I'm my own mech. Don't have nobody telling me what to do, working me to the ground and then short-changing me on an energon ration. Anyways, I don't have much to work for now that Flaire's dead."

"Yeah, I think I know the feelin'," Jazz said as he sat down and leaned back against a wall.

His air circulators were starting to return to their normal speed now that they'd finished rushing cooled air to his motor servos. Lightshow raised a brow, shrugged, then sat down next to him.

"You really miss this Maestro don't you? Shows you two were close. Tell me about him."

Jazz looked at him. "You wanna hear about Maestro?"

"Sure, if you got nothing else to talk about."

"You don't have anywhere else to be? Any other friends?"

"No and no. I'm stuck with you, unless of course you'd rather go back to solitary brooding, which I don't think is something you particularly enjoy."

"Not really, though I seem to have been doing a lot of that lately."

"Well then, go ahead and tell me what a mech like you from the nice part of this miserable town is doing in the miserable part of this miserable town."

Jazz saw through the street-smart, tough-mech attitude. In truth, Lightshow was just like him – lost and alone, looking for the right way to go, looking for a friend. So Jazz talked about his short life, told him about Maestro and Bronze; and while he did, he was able to get a good look at Lightshow.

The other mech was a dark maroon in color, with streaks of pale, silvery yellow here and there. He had a pair of transparent panels that stuck out at odd angles from his back. He had an open, almost rounded face and a pair of keen blue optics that had a playful, almost wild, glint to them.

"So you really think a war is gonna come crashing down on our heads?" Lightshow asked when Jazz was finished.

"Maestro seemed to think so, before he died."

"But bots you told thought you were looney huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Hey, you tried. Don't let it get you down. Flaire tried to be a hero and look at where that got him. Same deal with that mech Bronze. The main thing now is for us to get our tailpipes outta here before those three recycled trash cans start looking for us. Where did you say you were going?"

"I'm trying to make it to Iacon. Any ideas on how to get there?"

"Not a clue, but hey, first time for everything."

"Got that right." Jazz turned his head to look down his shoulder and back. "Dang, I'm gonna need some paint. That guy scratched up my back pretty bad."

"Hey, I'm your rescuer not your artist ok?"

"Guess I can wait till we get hold of some paint." He lay back on the ground. "First thing in the mornin', we're outta here."

"Alrighty, I'll just hang a 'do not disturb' sign on the door while we catch a few Zs."

"I thought you said we'd be safe here?"

"Yeah, but I didn't say for how long. We'd best get moving."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who nearly lost his head."

"You wanna hang around for them to come finish you off?"

Jazz groaned and sat back up again. "Fine, but we're gonna have to stop and rest somewhere."

"First shelter we find, I promise." Lightshow stood up and levered Jazz up with him. "Trust me."

"Just walk," Jazz said.

Lightshow looked down. "And what's with this datapad you keep carrying around?"

Jazz suddenly realized he still had his datapad clutched in his hand. "Its nothin', just somethin' I'm working on."

"Can I see?" Lightshow made a grab for it and Jazz whipped it out of the way just in time. He quickly subspaced it.

"No you cannot see, its personal. Now lets go!"

"Ooh touchy. Must've nicked a circuit." Lightshow smirked as he led the way out of the alley.

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	2. Jail

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lightshow all but danced out of the shelter in the morning. Jazz followed a little more calmly.

"Y'know, I would've chosen running into those three goons over spending another day inside there. Why on Cybertron did we have to spend TWO nights in there?"

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," Jazz said.

Lightshow held out his hand and began counting off on his fingers. "Cramped sleeping space, stale energon, smelter-like temperature and a smell like a trash compactor. Oh no, it wasn't bad at all. It was disgusting! Honestly, haven't some of those bots heard of self-maintenance? I've never seen such foul-looking mechanisms in all my existence!"

"Alright, so it was a little bad, but it could have been worse."

"I dread to ask, but how?"

"No sleeping space, no energon, actual smelter, actual trash compactor."

Lightshow brought his hand up and smacked his face. "I had to ask," he mumbled.

"At least we would have thrown off those three thugs, and we managed to get directions to the north sector."

"Let's just hope it'll be better than here."

"And I don't care what you say, stale or not, energon is energon, and we've got enough, so lets transform."

"No argument from me. I've had just about enough of this place."

Lightshow lept off the sidewalk and transformed into a compact hover-cycle. Jazz followed him by reverting to his hover-car mode. Lightshow stalled for a moment.

"Nice alt-mode," he said at last.

"Thanks, you too," Jazz replied. "Now lets get a move on."

They sped off down the street and eventually eased to a cruise once they'd left the main neighborhood. The morning light grew brighter and the buildings kept zipping by till the gap between each construction grew just a little wider. The two talked now and then, Lightshow telling Jazz about what it was like working in the factory he was posted at.

"So how did you come to like music?" Jazz asked.

"Flaire took me to a bar once, and they had a machine there that used to play magnetized discs with music tracks on them. I had some credits with me and I spent the entire time playing song after song till Flaire had to drag me out of there. That was before he left for Levatron. I haven't heard any music since then. No one else seemed interested in it."

"No one else was. Maestro lost his job because of it. He wanted to try and revive it, but he was too old. That's why he created me – to keep music alive. And I have absolutely no clue on how to do that."

"Maybe you shouldn't look. Maybe the answer will come to you."

"I sure hope it finds me soon. I don't wanna be the one to let Maestro down."

They kept driving for the rest of the day, through the night and well into the next day. Finally that evening Jazz pulled off the main street and turned into a side-road where he skidded a few times before coming to a stop at an odd angle. By this time Lightshow had transformed and was watching Jazz's struggle with some amusement.

"That was… great," he said between giggles. "Never seen… anyone… do that before." He sank to the ground laughing.

Jazz transformed. "Yeah, very hilarious. So smelt me, I still haven't got the hang of stopping yet. And it ain't nice to laugh at a mech like that. I'd never have laughed at you."

"Oh yes you would have, 'cause that was slagged up funny."

"Alright, I probably would have." Jazz sat down next to him. "That stale energon sure lasted us pretty long."

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna last us much longer. We gotta find someone willing to give us some or we aren't gonna get much farther. Where'd you say we are right now?"

"Somewhere in north Ferronix. We'll look in the morning. Right now we should get some sleep."

"Good idea. Goodnight."

Lightshow immediately began to power down. Jazz however, though tired, could not get to sleep just yet. It was not the dreams anymore – those had stopped soon after he left Stirrshot's home. He put it down to anxiety. Satisfied that his companion was asleep, Jazz pulled out his datapad and set about finishing his work. Lightshow cracked an optic open and watched Jazz for a good long while. Then, as Jazz was about to slip the datapad back into subspace, Lightshow shot his arm out and snatched it from his hand. He quickly jumped to his feet and backed several steps away, optics quickly skimming through the contents.

"Hey! Give that back!" Jazz yelled, rising and running towards the other mech.

The maroon bot turned to run, but Jazz caught up and tackled him. Both mechs went down with a crash. Lightshow got up first and Jazz was about to reach for him when a bright light burst from Lightshow's back panels and Jazz dropped back to the ground, his hands over his optics.

"Now that's just playing dirty!" he yelled.

"Never said I was a fair player," Lightshow replied.

Jazz's sharp audios, made even sharper now due to his lack of sight, honed in on Lightshow's voice and he lunged for the other mech's legs, tripping him. He heard Lightshow curse as he hit the ground.

"Aw frag! You were supposed to stay down!" he said.

"What can I say? I'm not a fair player either," Jazz replied as his vision began to clear. "Now give that back." He pinned Lightshow's arm down and took the datapad from his hand.

"Alright you two, knock it OFF!" a third voice boomed.

Jazz and Lightshow froze. Looking back they saw a big, bulky orange-colored mech, with yellow and black flames patterning his arms, legs and torso, standing at the junction between the main road and the side-road. A few heavy strides later and he'd reached them and hauled them up, one in each hand. Jazz saw a big, red Autobot symbol on his left shoulder, and the letters ACDC on his right. Autobot Civil Defense Corps.

"Now just what were you two young junkers trying to do?"

"Well Officer," Jazz began. "What happened was that…"

"… we were attacked, "Lightshow cut in. "Oh but not in this neighborhood, we just got here. Uh… two nights ago in the east neighborhood. There were these three mechs and they jumped my friend over here. You can just look at what they did to his back there."

Jazz felt the big mech's optics carefully scrutinizing his scraped back.

"Anyways," Lightshow continued. "I managed to save him and we high-tailed it out of there. They chased after us all the way to the border – which was last night. And it was only now that we felt safe enough to stop and see if we were alright. However, my friend is a little biased to physical examination, bad experience with a careless medic when he was younger."

Jazz's optics flared and widened in disbelief, but he said nothing and waited instead to see exactly where Lightshow was going with this.

"So I was just trying to get him to hold still to see if he was badly damaged and he tried to fight me. We weren't really up to anything Officer, cross my fuel-pump and hope to rust."

Jazz watched as Lightshow struck the energy bars with his fist and sent up a shower of sparks.

"Ow! That hurt," the maroon bot exclaimed as he stepped back and waved his hand to try and take the sting out.

"Good, you deserve it for lying," Jazz said from where he sat on the floor in a corner of the holding cell.

"I didn't lie!" Lightshow objected as he turned around to face Jazz.

"Chased to the border?" Jazz asked.

"I stretched the truth."

"Fear of being examined? Biased to medics?!"

"I had to say something that he would buy."

"Oh yeah, and he bought it, didn't he? Which is why we are now stuck here in this lovely prison facility."

"Hey, I tried my best. I even gave him the whole 'I'm innocent' look." He sat on the floor a few paces in front of Jazz.

"Which brings us to the fact that we wouldn't even be in here if you didn't have such an insatiable curiosity. Exactly what part of 'private' do you not understand?"

"The private part," Lightshow replied. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand why you'd want to keep something as good as that poem private."

"It's a song, not a poem," Jazz said.

"Ok, song then. Whatever it is, it's still really good. And I'm not saying that just because you're beyond mad with me and I'm trying to get back into your good graces – alright, I am – but it really is great."

"You really think so?" Jazz asked.

"Sure. Does it have a tune yet?"

"Sort of."

"Can you sing it for me?"

"What?! No!"

"Oh come on, please! Its been so long since I heard any kind of music. And if I can't hear a song from someone who's been created to make music, then what's the use?"

"Alright! You made your point, I'll sing it. But no laughing or wise remarks."

"I'll be as quiet as a turbo-mouse."

Jazz relented and quietly sang the song, and as he sang it, he watched Lightshow. The other young bot seemed to be really feeling it, as if he could understand the emotions within the song. And Jazz supposed he could. Lightshow had also lost his creator.

As Jazz finished, the orange mech, who's name was Flamethrower, came into the tiny room that housed the jail cell with a large cube of energon in each hand.

"I'm sorry about the accommodations kids, you both seem like nice mechs, but you were causing a bit of a disturbance and I had no choice but to bring you in."

"That's alright, Officer," Jazz said. "We're probably better off in here for the night than out on the street."

"Yeah, who knows when those muggers might show up," Lightshow added.

"Let it go, Lightshow."

Flamethrower carefully slipped the cubes of energon through the bars. "I figured you'd need some after your long drive." Lightshow got up and gladly accepted them. "And I thought Jazz would like this." He unsubspaced two small cans of paint – one black and one white – and an applicator.

"Primus bless you, Sir!" Jazz exclaimed as he lept up and gratefully took them.

"Just call me Flamethrower. My partner does and he ain't no older than the two of you. Anyway I don't like them titles, they make me sound old. Now, I gotta get back to my post so you mechs have a good night."

Flamethrower left after they'd wished him goodnight and the two of them quietly sipped on their energon while Lightshow applied the paint to Jazz's back.

"Y'know what," he said as he paused to drink some energon. "We should ask Flamethrower if he couldn't keep us in here for a few more nights. I mean we get shelter, we get free, good-quality energon. It's perfect right?"

"I think that would be pressing our luck," Jazz replied.

"What luck? We have luck?"

"Quite a bit it seems. For us to have come this far on our own at this age. Not all mechs are that lucky."

"Jazz, do us both a favor and try not to go all philosophical. It's just not you." He gave Jazz a slap on the shoulder. "There we go, all painted. Now if only we had some wax."

"Again with the luck thing."

"Right. So should we actually try and get some sleep this time around?"

"Yes we should. And this time I'm going to make sure you are truly asleep before I shut down."

They were woken by loud voices from outside the next day.

"Hey, Flamethrower!" a thickly accented voice called out. "I caught your scumbag trying to set fire to another building up the street."

"You caught him? What do you mean?"

Jazz and Lightshow sat up and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"I mean I got the slagger outside all wrapped up in energy-chains for ya," the voice said.

"Ah, good job, Inferno. Just give me a minute and I'll be right with you."

Jazz and Lightshow scrambled to their feet as Flamethrower came inside and hit a panel on the wall. The energy bars winked out and the mech gestured for them to come out.

" 'Fraid I cant give you any more accommodations, but my partner just brought in a new guest who needs this room more than you do. C'mon, you kids can go out the back." He led them to a door and pushed it open. "Go on, you're free. Just do me a favor and stay out of trouble alright."

"Good as gold." Lightshow grinned.

"Thanks for everything," Jazz added.

"Don't mention it," Flamethrower said. "Its been nice knowing ya both."

"Flamey, get your can in here!" Inferno hollered.

"Alright Inferno, I'm coming." The orange mech shrugged. "Duty calls." With a nod to the two, he stepped back inside and shut the door.

"So what now?" Lightshow asked. "Are we still gonna go on together? 'Cause if you don't want me to come along, I can always go back."

"And lose the one mech who makes me look like a normal bot? I wouldn't hear of it."

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	3. Strings

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The buzzing sound overhead caused Lightshow to look up at the sky yet again. Three nights since their 'arrest' and they were almost on the northern outskirts of Ferronix. He and Jazz had taken refuge for the night on another side-road and he'd been trying to sleep – if it wasn't for that slagging buzzing.

"Ok Jazz, is that buzzing sound just me or is there something in the sky above us that I cant see?" he asked.

"Well, if by buzzing you meant a turbo-fly then I'd say it was you," Jazz said. "But if by buzzing you mean a flyer up in the sky, then I'd say I'm not alone in thinking that its been following us since we left Flamethrower's prison."

"Why would a flyer be following us?"

"I don't know. Maybe Flamethrower sent it to make sure we really did stay out of trouble. Maybe it just got lost."

"Or maybe we should just get its afterburner down here and ask it personally, I can even provide a landing marker if it wants one." Lightshow stood up.

Jazz reached up and pulled him back down. "Don't. It may have nothing to do with us at all. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. It could just be a coincidence."

"There's no such thing as a coincidence."

"Well as far as I'm concerned, unless he decides he wants to join us on the ground, there's nothing we can do for him. So lets just both get some sleep." He settled into a comfortable position, closed his optics and began to shut down.

"How do you know?" Lightshow asked.

Jazz opened an optic. "How do I know what?"

"How do you know our flyer up there is a 'he'? it could just as easily be a femme."

"For the love of Primus Lightshow, just shut up and sleep! Or if that is too hard, then just shut up so another mech can sleep."

"But what if – ."

"Shut up!"

A couple of hours before dawn, a loud roar passed overhead, startling both mechs awake.

"That was NOT me," Lightshow said at once, when Jazz looked at him.

"Are you crying?" Jazz asked.

"Who me? Of course not! I don't cry."

"You've got optic fluid on your face."

"Faulty tube lining."

"You were dreaming about Flaire weren't you?"

"How could you tell?"

"You called out his name just before you woke up."

"Aw that's it. Next time I sleep I'm magna-taping my mouth shut."

"Its alright, I dream of Maestro sometimes too. Not as often as I used to, but every now and then."

"Yeah. Now what the slag was that noise?"

"I don't know, but it could have been our flyer. The buzzing's stopped."

"Lets check it out." Lightshow jumped up and went to the street corner. "Jazz! Come quickly!" He dashed across the main road, not bothering to look out for oncoming traffic, which was thankfully lacking at that hour, his optics fixed on what was in front of him.

Jazz was close on his heels. Both of them reached and knelt by the mech lying on the ground, barely conscious. The red symbol on his right shoulder identified him as an Autobot.

"Is this our flyer?" Lightshow asked?"

"I doubt it. He ain't got any wings. He's quite a young mech too. Wonder what happened to him."

"I think the important question here is if he's still alive." Lightshow smacked the other mech's face lightly, inciting a small groan. "Alright, he's alive. Next question: who is he?"

"Nevermind that, we need to know how to help him or he's not going to live long enough to tell us his name."

"He needs energon," another voice broke in.

Jazz and Lightshow looked towards a darkened alley. There was a figure standing in the shadows where only a faint silhouette was visible and they could just make out a pair of wings. That, and a pair of red optics.

"I could shed a little light on this guy," Lightshow whispered to Jazz. "He's definitely our flyer."

"I don't think you should," Jazz replied. "Something tells me that he's better off being anonymous for all our sakes. And he's not the one I'm concerned about."

"So what do we do?" Lightshow asked.

"Please help him," the figure said, almost in a reply. "His name is Strings. I rescued him from a Decepticon prison in Levatron and brought him here where he could be looked after by his Autobot brethren."

"Well if you brought him this far, why didn't you just take him straight to a medical center, or take care of him yourself?" asked Lightshow.

"I would not be accepted by Autobots anymore. And if I am gone for too long my superiors would become suspicious. If Autobots are indeed more than just land-crawling mechanisms, then please save his life."

"That guy's a Decepticon!" Lightshow hissed. "He's outnumbered two to one, we could take him."

"Not a good idea. He maybe armed, and we're not. Besides, if he risked everything to bring this poor mech to somewhere he could be cared for, 'Con or not, he cant be all bad," Jazz answered.

In addition, this particular Decepticon had him intrigued. It was something in the voice. It was a deep, cold, rough voice, but somewhere deep within it Jazz's audios were picking up on something different that he just couldn't put his finger on. Strings groaned again and both mechs turned their attention back to him.

"How do you propose we take care of him? We can barely take care of ourselves out here," Lightshow said.

"We have to try buddy. We cant just leave him here to die," replied Jazz. He turned to the figure in the alley. "Alright, we'll take him, but this had better not be some kind of trick."

"Thank you," was all the figure said. Then it transformed and a light-colored flyer flew off into the early morning sky.

"Great," Lightshow said. "Now what do we do? Our flyer's gone and we're stuck with his cargo."

"That cargo happens to be a living mechanism and I think he can hear you," Jazz said. "For now I think we should get him back across the street to where we were. Then we'll decide."

He and Lightshow carefully lifted and carried the mech back to the side-road. Once they'd set him down, Jazz knelt over him and checked for injuries.

"Well, thank Primus he's got no physical damage."

"Oh wonderful. Now we just need a few gallons of energon to recharge him. And where are we gonna get all that from? We don't even have any credits to buy some."

"That's not… totally accurate," Jazz said.

"What do you mean?"

"Before he died, Maestro gave me about 2,000 credits and I've had them with me all this time. I just didn't want to spend it."

"You mean we could have been sleeping in proper recharge berths and drinking quality energon all this time? But instead we had to go the poverty route?"

"I'm sorry. Maestro told me to use the credits wisely so I didn't want to use it unless we had a real emergency."

"And he was right. You made the right choice."

"But I guess I'd better break it out and go see if I can get some energon for him."

"Save it. There isn't a place around here worth spending it on. I've got a better idea." Lightshow's optics took on that wicked glint.

"I'm not going to like this am I?"

"Don't know about you, but I sure will. The town's just about up and running, there's bots all over the streets. You're going to go out there and sing your song."

Jazz stared at him dumbfounded. "You must have short-circuited something in your processor. No. not on your existence. No way."

"It'll take too long for us to go bargaining and we don't know how much time this bot's got left. If you want to save him you gotta do this."

Lightshow all but pushed Jazz back onto the street. Bots walked or drove up and down and barely paid them any attention. The two of them watched them for a moment.

"I don't think I can do this," Jazz said.

"Then don't think! Just get out there and do it! What have you got to lose?"

"My pride for starters."

"Pride is so over-rated." Lightshow placed a thin panel on the ground on which he'd painted 'Singing For Energon'. He grinned at Jazz. "Go for it!"

Grudgingly Jazz steeled himself, opened his mouth and let his voice pour forth. At first a few bots only stopped to stare in surprise and confusion. A few gathered, but none of them moved to do anything. He nearly faltered as he was nearing the end of the song. Then Lightshow signaled to him to sing it again. Only this time, as he started, Lightshow stood beside him singing a deep second harmony – their voices blending beautifully.

_I live_

_In ashes, dark steely grey_

_At moments I feel alright. _

_Then I'm plagued with waves of longing._

_Yet I live_

_Missing the one who lovingly made me_

_Pricked and torn by the thought_

_That he's not here anymore_

_The tears run down again_

_Like wet, crystal pain._

_Still I live_

_And days march on_

_Unceasing they come_

_Soon I will raise my head again._

_I live_

_On fire, in flame_

_Rising to shine, awash with light_

_Gleaming black and white_

_Facing life as one who flies_

_Who hopes_

_Who loves_

_I live._

When they'd finished this time around, there were at least five canisters of energon at their feet. Bowing to the applause from the small crowd that had gathered, they picked up their energon and the sign, said their thanks and retreated back into the alley. They found the young mech with his optics open slightly wider. He looked at them.

"That was beautiful," he said.

"You heard us?" Jazz asked.

The mech gave an imperceptible nod. Lightshow knelt by him with a canister of energon.

"Quit jabbering and start drinking."

They had to help him drink the first canister, but after that he was able to sit up and drink the second and the third. Jazz and Lightshow also downed a canister each. It was at this point that they started to assess each other. Strings was a light powder-blue, lean, and a bit structurally smaller than the two of them. His pleasant, open face housed a pair of rather large, rounded optics. (:::Wide-opticked and innocent::: Lightshow thought to himself). He looked like an all-round nice bot.

"Thank you for helping me," he said at last.

Jazz shrugged. "Like Lightshow said, we're Autobots, gotta look out for each other. My name's Jazz by the way."

"And I guess you already know my name is Strings."

"Yeah, but if you don't mind me asking, what's the deal between you and that Decepticon?" Lightshow asked.

Strings' optics glinted with a bit of sadness and Jazz knew whatever he was about to tell them wasn't going to be a happy tale.

" I suppose you have a right to know," he said. "I was created in one of the small south-western Cybertronian towns, by a femme called Highwire. We were a part of a traveling performing troupe where she was an acrobat. The day we were about to leave and head east, the Decepticons attacked the town we were in. It was more of a raid than an attack really – they were looking for young mechs to rebuild and reprogram into Decepticons. Highwire was killed when she tried to stop them from taking me."

Jazz and Lightshow waited patiently for the young mech to continue. They knew it wasn't always easy to talk about a dead creator.

"The thing is, I have a rare medical condition," Strings continued. "My systems take longer than a normal bot's to process and convert energon into energy. As a result, you'll notice I tire out easily, because most of the energy goes into the conversion process itself, which doesn't leave too much for anything else. Anyways, the Decepticons found out about that and deemed me useless, and I was going to be smelted. It was on the way to the smelting pits that this flyer – or Seeker as they're being called now – swooped down and whisked me off. I don't remember much else since I was really low on energy and getting weaker. The next thing I knew I was lying here and listening to the two of you singing."

"Well hopefully you wont have to hear that again." Jazz said.

"On the contrary, I thought it was quite beautiful."

Lightshow tossed an 'I told you so' look at Jazz, before looking at Strings. "So what will you do now? You're a free mech. Do you have friends you can go to?"

"I never knew anyone except the bots in my troupe and they're all either dead or taken. I have nowhere to go and because of my condition I don't know if anyone would want to take me in for any work."

"You can come with us if you like," Lightshow offered. "That war down in Levatron, its spreading. So Jazz and I are trying to get to Iacon, or at least some place as close to it as possible, before it hits."

"I'd love to join, but what do you do?"

"Nothing I'm afraid," said Jazz. "We travel everyday, sleep on the streets if we cant find shelter, and beg more well-off folk for an energon ration."

"Sounds like what we did in the troupe. Though our performances earned us the energon. Hearing the two of you, instead of begging, next time you could sing."

Jazz stood up. "There's not gonna be a next time. Now we'd better get moving, time's a-wasting."

"He's shy about his singing," Lightshow told Strings as they followed Jazz down the street. "He thinks he sounds bad."

"But Jazz, you have a wonderful voice. Its quite unique," Strings said.

Jazz didn't look back, but he knew Lightshow was grinning triumphantly. Damn that motor-mouthed mech to the Pit!

"Thanks Strings," he said. "I'll think about it. Can you transform?"

"I think I can manage it. My energy levels are starting to pick up. I should be ok for a while."

"Good. Then lets try and drive for as long as we can. I've had about as much adventure in this neighborhood as I can take."

"Me too. I'm ready for something new," Lightshow said as he reverted to his alt mode.

Jazz and Strings did likewise. Strings' alt mode was similar to Jazz's, only smaller, flatter and without the rear spoiler, which slowed him down only a bit more, but not by much that the other two had to alter their speeds. They admired him for the fact that despite his condition, he still tried to live as normally as possible. He was quiet most of the time, speaking only to ask a question or answer one. Jazz didn't mind. Lightshow talked enough to make up for it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	4. Electro

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

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They reached the last outpost of North Ferronix that evening. Beyond that the road stretched for miles and miles before leading into the city of Dyacron. Between the two locations there were but a few random dwellings. Jazz stared at the road a good long while as the others settled down in the alley behind him.

"Jazz, you can stare at that road till Primus awakens, but its not going to get any shorter," Lightshow said at last.

"I'm just trying to determine how much energon we're gonna need between stops. We wouldn't wanna run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere."

"In that case we'd better get all we can tonight. Do you want to go the first round or shall I?"

"I really think you'll get a lot more if you just sang the song," Strings said. "It'd also save you the trouble of walking around."

"That's what I keep saying," said Lightshow. "But Jazz just happens to be as stubborn as a grease stain."

Jazz ignored them and kept staring at the road. Strings looked at Lightshow and winked. Then he unsubspaced a six-string guitar. Lightshow gaped.

"Where did you get that thing?" he asked.

"My troupe," Strings replied. "Because of my condition I wasn't able to do any stunts like Highwire, so I performed with the musicians instead, and learnt the guitar. Now sing me that song and lets see if I cant provide some accompaniment."

It took a few tries, but Strings finally managed to pick up the tune on his guitar and soon strummed out the melody. Jazz turned round to face them.

"I just hope you realize by now that I hate you both," he said, though he didn't really, and they knew it. "Oh alright! Lightshow get that sign of yours and lets go get us some energon."

Driving along the road itself made it seem longer than it looked. Sometimes it felt like they had been driving for days when they'd only been going for a few hours. Lightshow had found a length of sturdy chain and he and Jazz took turns to tow Strings in order to help the mech conserve his energy. They had managed to get a decent supply of energon at the outpost with their little 'performance' on the street that day, and Jazz had rationed it to try and make it last the entire journey.

The drives were quiet for the most part, and even Lightshow found it hard to come up with things to say. The stops were a little better as they usually meant rest and energon. Strings sometimes took out his guitar and played a few wordless melodies that he'd learnt in his troupe. Lightshow seemed particularly interested in trying to learn how to play the instrument, and Strings often tried to teach him, but the six strings wound up being a little confusing for him.

"Don't worry Lightshow," Strings said. "Maybe one day we can get you a bass guitar and you can learn how to play that. Its only got 4 strings."

"Yeah, maybe then we form a band and I become a rich and famous musician."

"You'd have a long wait," Jazz muttered.

"What's eating you?" Lightshow asked, noticing the change in Jazz's voice. "Turbo-fly up your exhaust?"

"I'm beginning to wonder if we made the right choice in leaving Ferronix."

"Of course you did. Ok, so the road's a little longer than we expected, but there's a city at the end of it."

"And then what? We do this all over again till we reach Iacon. And when we reach Iacon, then what? What if they wont even let us enter?"

"Why wouldn't they? We're Autobots after all."

"Yeah, but look at us. You really think they'll let in a couple of skidplates off the streets with no skills whatsoever? They don't have the same class system like they did in Ferronix."

"Jazz, you need to shut up and listen to yourself. You're predicting things before they even happen, and unless Primus came up and whacked you on the head one night, I don't recall you ever being psychic. Now when I snap my fingers, you will stop acting like a frazzled psycho-drone and start acting like Jazz again." Lightshow snapped his fingers in front of Jazz's face, but all it earned him was an annoyed look. "Oh I give up!"

"Y'know I've been to Kalis," said Strings. "And they have a lot of the same restriction as Iacon. Not everybody can get into the city without a good purpose."

"How did you get in?" Lightshow asked.

"With the troupe, as performers. We got into a lot of the bigger cities that way, though we never made it to Iacon or Polyhex – nothing north and east."

"Couldn't we do the same then?"

"Lightshow, come back to reality! We're not performers. We're nothing. There's no way we can get into Iacon. Maybe Strings could with his guitar skills, but you and I have nothing. We couldn't get in even if we stood on our heads and did stand-up comedy," Jazz said.

"Well if this is your reality then I'm better off living in my own private little dreamworld!"

The tension between Jazz and Lightshow lasted for the next few days. The two barely exchanged words and it made Strings feel very uncomfortable. Jazz's good, cheery nature was soured and Lightshow's constant jabbering was silenced. Strings almost downright hated it. The fourth night after their initial argument he approached Jazz while Lightshow was asleep.

"What's really spooking you?" he asked. "You've not been yourself ever since we left Ferronix."

"Nothing's spooking me, I'm alright."

Strings leveled him with that earnest, wide-opticked look.

"Aw c'mon, don't give me that look. There's nothing bothering me, honest!"

Strings was unrelenting. "This has nothing to do with us getting into Iacon. This is more you leaving Ferronix behind."

"Guess you got me. Its just… well… Ferronix was my home. I was created there, and now its like I've just left everything I've ever known behind. Its like… its like I've left Maestro behind."

"Wasn't he the one who told you to leave Ferronix?"

"Oh its nothing he did, its me. All the time we were in Ferronix it was like part of him was still with me, but now that we've left it… I just feel like I've finally put him behind me."

"You're scared. Because now you're truly on your own."

"I know it sounds silly, I mean you've obviously been through a lot worse than I have. You've lost a creator in a worse way than I have. I shouldn't even be talking."

"But we're not talking about me."

"I'm scared I might forget him. And I'm scared I might fail him. We're all alone out here. What if something happens before we can get to Iacon? And I'm more afraid of reaching Iacon and getting turned away."

"You're worried about things happening that have not even happened yet, and may never will. Don't do that, you'll blow your fuses out…. Let me tell you something about my troupe. We had a rule that we would just live life one day at a time. We'd worry about something only if there was something worth worrying about. Otherwise the troupe would have fallen apart a long time ago."

"So you're saying we should do the same?"

"I'm saying just worry about what you have to do today. Leave the rest for when the time comes."

Jazz nodded thoughtfully. "I'll remember that. Thanks Strings. You're not as innocent as you look."

"So a lot of bots have said."

Yet despite Strings' advice, Jazz still remained a little apprehensive about what they were doing. What made it worse was that the other two looked at him like he was a sort of unspoken leader. They were all friends, true enough, but when it came down to making a choice or calling the shots, they left it to him – and he hated it. He often wished one of them would step up and take the initiative once in a while, but they never did. It was because of these doubts and choices that their scheduled stops became earlier and earlier, and the duration of the stops themselves became longer and longer. Jazz was stalling the farther away from Ferronix they got. Finally, a week after the initial argument, when Jazz called for their earliest stop yet, Lightshow, who was highly irritated by now, had had enough.

"Why are we stopping this time?" he asked, transforming.

"The light's almost gone. We don't want to go driving around blindly in the dark in an area we don't know," Jazz replied as he and Strings transformed too.

Lightshow muttered something inaudible and went and sat on the side of the road, his arms crossed and resting on his knees. Jazz sat down about a foot away, pulled out a datapad and started scribbling something in it. Strings watched the two and let out an uncomfortable sigh. He could have cut the tension between them with a laser rod. He glanced at Lightshow. The mech had been simmering quietly this past week and it was only a matter of time before he bubbled over. And in a matter of minutes, he did.

"This is ridiculous!" he looked up and said. "We're just wasting time out here. Time that we could kill on the road because quite frankly the more ground we cover, the closer we are to a city."

"We're not driving in the dark," Jazz said.

"That's what headlights and infra-red are for aren't they?"

"They use up too much energy and we have to try and conserve every bit we have."

"Slag that. This has nothing to do with saving energy. This is about you staying as close to Ferronix as possible."

"Its not like that."

"Its not? Then explain the fact that the farther we go, the slower we seem to get. And I'm tired of crawling. If you want to go back to Ferronix and stay there till the Decepticons arrive and blast a hole through your chassis like they did to Flaire and Highwire, you're more than welcome to, but don't expect me to share in the festivities." He stood up and stepped back on to the road.

"What are you doing?" Jazz asked.

"Leaving," he replied. "There's a reason they call me Lightshow." He transformed, and the transparent panels that made up the mini-hood part of his hover-cycle mode, glowed dimly. "I'll see ya around, depending on whether you guys can catch up with me in the morning." He sped off.

"We should go after him," Strings said.

Jazz hesitated. "I don't know, maybe he just wants to be alone to cool off. We should give him his space."

A crash echoed down the road. Jazz lept from the side of the road and transformed in the space of a second. Then he shot off down the street. Strings shook his head, transformed and followed.

Jazz didn't have to go far. A few meters away he spotted Lightshow just transforming on the opposite side of the road. His light panels were flickering. Then he looked up as Jazz neared.

"Jazz! Watch out for – !"

Jazz crashed into something, bounced off it and careened to the side of the road where Lightshow was scrambling to get out of the way. Jazz transformed and landed across his legs.

" – the signboard," Lightshow finished as he dragged his legs out from under Jazz's torso.

"I think Strings was behind me, we've got to warn him about that," Jazz said.

Strings appeared at that point, deftly swerved around the signboard and came to a stop where they were. "Are you two alright?" he asked as he transformed and came forward to help them.

"Ahh, we're ok," Lightshow said. "But how did you know about that signboard?"

"Infrared sensors. Uses up less power than glaring headlights. How did you miss seeing it Lightshow?"

"Light panels ran out of fuel and blacked out on me. I hit the stupid board before I could switch to infrared. What's your excuse?" Lightshow looked at Jazz.

When Jazz squirmed and didn't answer, Lightshow grinned.

"How DID you miss seeing the sign?" Strings asked.

Jazz muttered something.

Lightshow's grin widened. "What was that?"

"I was worried about you," Jazz muttered softly.

"Ok, I don't know if I heard you correctly, but I could have sworn you said you were worried about me."

"Yes! I was worried about you, ok? Are you happy now?"

"Actually, yeah I am. I'm also happy you came after me. It shows."

"It shows what?"

"That you do love me!"

Jazz tried to look angry, but couldn't stop his lip-components from curving into a smile. "Guess I do. Well, you're alright."

Lightshow smirked. "Now lets see what kind of idiot android sticks a sign halfway out on the street." He crossed the road, went back over to the sign and tried charging up his light panels once more. They spluttered to life with a dull glow. "Spyro's Oil Bar, 100 meters" he read.

"Well then, let's pay Spyro a visit," Jazz said. "Though this time we're walking there. Don't wanna bang into anymore street signs."

"I second that," Lightshow said, and started walking.

Spyro's was not what they expected it to be. It was, in fact, little more than a large shed with a couple of lights, table, stools and a broken counter. The three entered through the door and stopped short. The place was virtually empty except for one mech sitting at one of the tables and playing out a tune on a set of keyboards.

"Nice place," Lightshow muttered. "Must be very popular with the patrons."

"Be quiet," Jazz whispered.

Strings went up to the bot on the keyboards. "Hey there, are you Spyro?" he asked.

The mech looked up. "Uh… no I'm not. Spyro's in the back; do you have a meeting with him?"

"Oh, no. we just… uh… ran into your sign along the road."

"That's putting it mildly," Lightshow said as he sat down on a stool. "This thing's not gonna break under me is it?"

Jazz smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Didn't Flaire give you any tact at all?"

"I don't know. What is this thing you call tact?"

"I rest my case," Jazz said.

Lightshow shrugged.

"Friend of yours?" the mech asked, looking from Lightshow to Strings.

"Yeah he is. Its alright, he just likes to talk a lot."

"I can tell…. So, what can I do for you mechs?"

"Well, we'd like some energon and lodging," Lightshow spoke up. "But since we got no credits to pay for those things, we'll just take what you can give us for the night and be out of your circuits by morning."

"And where might you all be going with no credits?" the bot asked. "If I might add, you look rather young to be traveling alone."

"Yet that's what we're doing," said Jazz. "It's a long story, but we're trying to make it to Iacon."

"Mmhmm, right. I'm sure you are."

"Y'know what Jazz, I don't think he believes us," said Lightshow in a mock whisper.

"Give me a reason to," the mech said. "Do your creators know you're out here?"

"Our creators are dead," retorted Lightshow matter-of-factly.

A silence fell over the group that would have stretched into an uncomfortable one had it not been for the rough voice that shouted out from the back.

"Sodding Primus! Electro! Stop messing around with that fragging music of yours and get in here and clean up this mess."

"I'm with some customers Spyro!"

"I don't care if you're with the sodding Overlord. We're closed for the day so tell them to slag off."

"And you wondered why they don't have patrons," Jazz whispered to Lightshow.

"Listen uh… Electro, we don't want to get you in any trouble, so we'll just be on our way," said Strings.

"Oh no, please, don't go," Electro said, quickly rising to his feet. "I don't see mechs like you often, so I'd like you to stay. There's some discarded oil behind the bar counter. It's a bit old, but still rich in energy. You can have that on the house."

"Electro! Get your aft in here or I'll fire you before you can say 'unemployment'. Now move it!"

"I'll be right back," Electro said, and rushed out.

Jazz found the oil where Electro had said it was and the three of them sat around a table sipping on it and waiting for the mech to come back. Lightshow fidgeted now and then and kept looking towards the door Electro had gone through. Jazz looked at him quizzically.

"Boss-mechs like that make me twitch," Lightshow said. "Had one like that in the factory I worked in."

"And I'm guessing you slagged him off more times than I dare to count?"

"Not intentionally," Lightshow replied with a hint of a mischievous grin.

Strings had been glancing at the mech's keyboards. "I think we should ask him to come with us," he said quietly.

Jazz and Lightshow looked at him and blinked.

"Why the Pit would he want to give up his job and join us on the streets?" Lightshow asked.

"Maybe for the same reason you gave up yours," Strings replied. "Didn't you see him? His face practically lit up when we started talking to him. He's not happy here; not surprising, considering the mech he's working for. And he's a musician, he cant be all bad. It wouldn't hurt to ask him though right?"

"I guess not," Jazz said.

Lightshow took one look at Strings' face and threw his hands up in the air. "Alright! Don't look at me like that. He can join us if he wants. Though someone had better loosen up his nuts and bolts first."

"He IS a bit stiff," Jazz agreed.

"He is also not deaf so stop talking about him as if he is," Strings added. "He's coming back."

The door opened and Electro came back out. He looked relieved to still see them there.

"Thanks for staying," he said.

Jazz pushed a fourth can of oil forward. "Let's chat."

The three sized him up as he came towards them. He was a big mech, taller and bulkier than they were, colored a dark blue with patches of black and silver. He didn't look like a mech that one wanted to mess with. He sat down.

"Ok, we'll chat. What about?"

"Well, you for starters." Lightshow eyed the red symbol on his chest. "What's an Autobot like you doing in a dump like this?"

"Trying to make a living," Electro replied. "I was created with about 10 other robots, in bulk, so I don't really know who my creator is, if I had one at all. Still, we were given our own individual personalities. Our main job was working in a scrap yard, sorting out all the junk. One day I found a set of old keyboards someone had thrown out. They intrigued me enough that I fixed them up and started playing some notes. Eventually I taught myself how to play a few random melodies."

"How did you end up here?" Strings asked.

"I lived in a big warehouse at an outpost of Dyacron. I knew I didn't want to work in a scrapyard all my life. I wanted to do something with my new talent. So Spyro took me in. he pays me about 3 to 5 credits a day to clean up spills, fix the furniture, take out the trash and do a few other odd tasks. In return he lets me play my keyboards once in a while to entertain the customers."

"And you sure have a lot of those," Lightshow said.

Jazz kicked him hard enough to shut him up. "Don't mind him. Sometimes his mouth outruns his processors."

Electro smirked. "Well, business has been rather slow. I'm guessing its due to all the unrest in the South."

"You know about that?"

"Yes. Sometimes we get a few bots coming in with news. Other times I go into town to catch up on the latest."

"Are you happy working here?" Strings asked him suddenly.

"I guess the wages ARE rather low, but at least its something. And I get to play now and then," Electro replied.

"That's not what I asked," Strings said. "Honestly, are you HAPPY?"

"Well, sometimes I wonder what it must be like to be your own mech. No one ordering you around all the time. Like you guys. Free to do what you want."

"What if you had the chance to leave all this and strike out on your own?" Jazz asked. "Just you and your music. Would you take it?"

"With both hands," he said.

"Then would you like to join us when we leave?" asked Strings. "Come with us to Iacon?"

Electro looked at each of them trying to spot a sign that they were pulling a fast one on him. When they remained serious, he frowned.

"Why exactly are you going to Iacon?" he asked. "Tell me something about yourselves. We haven't been properly introduced, I don't even know your names. Tell me why I should join you." He looked at Lightshow. "You first."

Lightshow was far from intimidated. He smirked and then began his tale.

They talked well into the night, Jazz and Strings following Lightshow in telling Electro their stories. When they were all finished, another moment of silence followed. Electro's optics moved from one mech's face to the other as he tried to make sense of all they had told him.

"Hey listen," Jazz said at last. "We're not forcing you to come with us, we merely extended the invitation. As you know, its not exactly the most glamorous life. There's lots of uncertainty out there. But the one thing we ARE sure of is that we don't want to be any place unfriendly once a war hits."

"At least he's out of his Ferronix funk," Lightshow whispered to Strings, who just nodded.

"There's just one thing I don't understand," Electro said. "You three say you have musical talent, yet you prefer to beg for stuff. So you'll forgive me for wondering if you're really as talented as you say you are."

"Hey, if I wanted to be insulted I'd have stayed back in Ferronix," Lightshow said.

"I'm not insulting anyone. I'm just asking you to prove it."

Lightshow and Strings looked at Jazz. Jazz himself was more than a little miffed. This bot was questioning the talent he knew they had, and now it was up to him to either back down and let this mech think they were losers, or prove it and shut him up once and for all. He sighed. Maestro had warned him there would be days like this. Then he realized that by denying his talent, his gift, he would be denying everything that Maestro believed in and instilled in him. He couldn't deny it, wouldn't deny it anymore.

"Strings, get out that guitar," he said.

"Rock on!" Lightshow yelled and jumped off his stool.

"Wouldn't we be disturbing your boss?" Strings asked.

"Spyro's gone to sleep. A missile blowing next door wouldn't wake him up. He often leaves me to play my keyboards for a while and then close up."

"Alright then, Strings if you would be so kind."

The blue mech was more than happy to oblige by strumming out the opening riffs of what they now fondly called 'Jazz's Song'.

And then they sang...

... Electro led them to a small room adjoining the main bar.

"Forgive the small space. I don't think it was really built for 4 mechs," he said.

"We'll manage," said Jazz. "Its only for one night after all."

"Yeah, but this is gonna be your last night here," Lightshow said. "Shouldn't you be saying your fond farewells to your room and stuff?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a flair for the melodramatic?" Electro asked.

"Hmm I don't know. What does that mean?"

Electro sighed. "Nevermind. Strings, you can have the recharge berth, you'll need it more than the rest of us."

Strings offered a small smile. "Thanks."

The other three made themselves as comfortable as they could on the floor of the now-cramped little room. The noise in the room eased to the quiet hum of the recharge berth, and the sound of systems going into temporary shut-down. Optics flickered and closed as, one by one, each mech entered his respective recharge cycle.

"Y'know we're gonna have to come up with some new songs if you're all serious about this whole forming a band business," Lightshow said, shattering the blissful peace that had settled over the room. "I mean there's only so long we can manage with just one song. And whoever heard of a band performing just one song?"

"Does he EVER shut up?" Electro asked.

"Only on a good day," Jazz replied. "Lightshow, shut up!"

All they heard in response was an evil little snicker and the room fell back into silence once more. Jazz sighed to himself wondering how on Cybertron Lightshow and Electro were going to live together on the streets, hoping the two wouldn't try to kill each other, and mentally making a note to keep them as far away from each other as possible. When he finally fell asleep, Jazz dreamed – a myriad of colors flashed across his sub-conscious mind, and traces of them lingered when he woke up again the next day.

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	5. Slowmotion

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The next morning, Jazz and the other two watched from a side as Electro went up to another door and banged hard on it with his fist. In mere minutes the door was flung open, accompanied by a very displeased

"What?!"

They saw the faintest hint of a smirk touch Electro's lip-components.

"I quit!" he said, spun on his heel and walked away, head held high, and smiling. "Let's go!"

Electro transformed into a small anti-grav truck, which reminded Jazz of Bronze, only it wasn't as big or bulky as the burnished mech had been. It had an open back compartment in which Electro offered to carry Strings for a while to help him conserve his energy. Then the four set off once more.

The city of Dyacron, though not as bright and well-developed as its larger counterparts in the north and east, was definitely a lot more advanced than what Jazz, Strings and Lightshow were accustomed to seeing in Ferronix and in the South. There were some actual colors here – blues, reds, mauves, in addition to the occasional gold and silver of the more wealthier folk. The bots, too, were different. The robots of Dyacron were better built and in much better condition than their Ferronixian cousins. The Transformers' alt modes were sleeker, faster and a lot more stylish as well.

They were, in a sense, a lot colder too, preferring to mind their own business and go about their daily lives rather than become involved in the problems of the riff-raff that dotted the streets here and there.

Jazz and the others invariably found themselves as part of the riff-raff. Their music gave them a small edge over the other street beggars, but in the end, that was all it was – a small edge. Their usual quota was about 2-3 energon cubes per day and Strings usually needed to have a whole cube to himself just to keep his energy up, which left precious little for the other three, but they never begrudged him for it, for which he was very grateful.

They tended to spend 2 to 3 days in one area due to the main reason that sometimes they were too tired and weak to move on. Jazz and Lightshow tried their hardest to keep everyone's spirits up, but sometimes even the most positive of speeches got stale, and 'Jazz's Song' was fast becoming old.

"You regret coming with us yet?" Lightshow asked Electro one evening. "You could've been back at Spyro's with your little can of oil instead of starving out here on the streets with us."

"And probably have been miserable for the rest of my existence," Electro replied. "Or till I was shot by a Decepticon, if what you say about the war is true."

He looked at Jazz, who was checking on Strings.

"Maestro wouldn't have asked me to leave if he thought otherwise," Jazz replied. "I trust him."

"I think he's right," said Strings. "Especially after what I saw down in the South."

"Then why wouldn't anyone believe you?" asked Electro.

"Do we look like credible news sources?" asked Jazz. "A lot of these bots have quite good lives – comfortable and secure – they're not just going to drop everything and run screaming to Iacon just 'cause some street-mech says there's a war coming. Especially when, in all likelihood, Iacon will just tell them to get scrapped."

"And yet here we are, trying to get in."

"Oh not this again," Lightshow muttered.

"Everyone thinks that the Decepticons wont get past the Southern provinces," Jazz went on. "But I think we, as Autobots, are underestimating them greatly. Iacon's going to realize their mistake in taking them lightly, and personally I'd like to be well inside the city's walls when they eventually do."

"Yes, but how do we GET inside those walls if you say its near-impossible?"

"That I haven't worked out yet," Jazz admitted.

"Oh wonderful. I wonder what chance a one-song musical group has."

"Hey, back off alright," Lightshow interjected. "At least we have a song."

"Oh yes. And how far do you think that will get us?"

"As far as it can."

"And then what?"

"Well I guess we'll just have to jump in that smelter when we come to it and hey, don't let me hold you back."

"You two please! Arguing is not going to get us anywhere," Strings said quietly. "Why don't you use that energy and write some songs of your own instead of quarreling? And to ease your worry Electro, Jazz and I have been working on getting a new song done, but in order to make it a good song, we'll need some time."

Jazz stood up.

"Where are you going?" Lightshow asked.

"To get some inspiration," he replied. "Try not to maim each other while I'm gone."

"I ain't making no promises." Lightshow tossed a smirk at Electro.

Jazz rolled his optics and walked out of the alley just before Electro told Lightshow exactly what he could do with his promise. He made another mental note to try and get hold of some magna-tape so he could tape those mechs' mouths shut before they started their ritual bickering. He and Strings were beginning to tire of playing referee.

Jazz stood at a street corner with a datapad in his hand, trying to come up with some words for the song he and Strings had been working on. So far all they had was the basis of a melody, and while Strings was working on completing it, if it didn't have any words there wasn't really a point. It was early evening and many bots were headed back to their residences after a day's work. He watched them. Bright flashes of color against the plain shades of the buildings, ground and sky. At that moment he realized that no matter where he went on Cybertron, the foundations of the planet and surrounding space would always be the same. The ground would always be silver, the dusty buildings grey, space would always be black. Homely colors in a way. Hues of home.

Jazz smiled as an idea presented itself to his mind. The basis of that song he was trying to write. He only had to word it right to fit Strings' melody. Now all he needed was to stop that irritating tapping sound. A sound, he realized, that was coming from the alley behind him. He turned to investigate and found that it was barely an alley at all. More like a quarter of a street that stopped at a dead end.

He could make out the silhouette of a bot sitting in a corner, drumming on the lid of a garbage can with his fingers. Jazz was about to go and tell him to stop when he realized that it was not random drumming. There was an actual rhythm being beaten out. He slowly moved a little closer.

Just at that moment however, his foot struck a metal can someone had left on the ground. He froze and the other bot stopped drumming and looked at him. So much for being stealthy.

"I'm sorry, am I disturbing you?" the bot asked. "I didn't think anyone could hear me in here."

"I've got sharper audios than most," Jazz said as he covered the remaining distance between them. "My name's Jazz, what's yours?"

"Slowmotion," the bot, a mech, said. "Am I in trouble?"

He stood up and stepped into a patch of light. Jazz took a good look at him. The mech was very young, even younger than Strings, but he was almost as tall as Electro, though a lot less bulkier, and colored an emerald green. He didn't have any markings as far as Jazz could see, but his blue optics gave him away as being an Autobot.

"Nah you ain't in trouble, I was just curious," Jazz said with a smile. "What's a young mech like you doing out here all alone anyway? You should be with your family."

"I don't have a family," the mech said. "At least NOW I don't, or I don't THINK so. The last I saw of them was back at the Kalis border. That was 3 days ago."

Jazz felt his laser core sink. "So you've been all alone for the last three days?"

"Pretty much. That's why I started drumming. I usually do that to take my mind off things, or when I'm scared. It helps."

"I'm sure it does," Jazz replied.

Now he was faced with a dilemma. He couldn't possibly leave this kid out here alone eventhough it would have been so easy to be like the Dyacronian robots and say it wasn't his problem. But Jazz wasn't Dyacronian. Yet no one would fault him for leaving the mech behind. They were having enough problems just trying to feed the four of them. A fifth bot would just be all the harder. He had to think of their survival in the long run.

Still, the kid had potential musical skills. Skills that might just help them all to survive. If the kid could hold his own within the group then there was no reason as to why he couldn't join them. Plus, Maestro had instilled a very strong sense of morals within him. He came to the conclusion that there was no way he could leave the kid behind even if he wanted to.

"Y'know what," he said at last. "I've got a couple of friends close by, why don't you join us? That way you wouldn't have to be alone."

"Really? I could? I don't have much to offer."

"Tell me Slowmotion, do you like music?"

"Well yes. I used to like to hit things, just to make some noise. It was only after I heard music that I began to hit things with some rhythm."

"In that case I think you're just the kind of mech we need," said Jazz. "C'mon, I'll introduce you."

He beckoned to the green mech to follow him and led him back to the alley where the others were. Thankfully Electro and Lightshow had stopped their verbal sparring and were now sitting and listening to Strings playing out the new melody on his guitar while Electro tried to pick it up and replay it on his keyboards. It took a good two minutes before Lightshow finally saw them.

"Hey Jazz… and… new mech I've never seen before. Who's your friend?" he asked.

"Everyone, meet Slowmotion. Slowmotion, meet Lightshow, Strings and Electro." Jazz pointed out each mech in turn.

Slowmotion looked at them with slightly wide optics and for a moment Jazz thought he was going to bolt, but then he seemed to relax.

"Hi," he said meekly.

"Hey there SlowMo." Lightshow greeted him with a wave.

"Welcome," said Electro.

Strings just nodded and smiled.

"Will you be staying for dinner? 'Cause I could go set the table," Lightshow said. "Any special orders?"

"Huh?" Slowmotion asked.

"Ignore him," Electro replied. "He has a few loose wires in his processor."

"No wonder he's called Slowmotion," Lightshow whispered to Strings. "Not very quick on the uptake is he?"

"Be quiet," Strings whispered back. "He's just a little scared."

"Actually, he'll be joining our group," Jazz said.

"Ah, and what will he be contributing? A tambourine perhaps? Maybe the triangle," Lightshow said.

"At least it will be a lot more than you contribute, which is nothing. Oh wait, there is the high level of irritation and the very large amount of pig-iron," Electro retorted.

"He does percussion," said Jazz. "Show 'em Slowmotion."

"Well, I'll need something to hit… um… pass me that box over there." He pointed to the one Lightshow was sitting on.

Electro promptly shoved Lightshow off it and handed it over to Slowmotion, ignoring the "Slagger" comment Lightshow flung at him. The bot sat down in front of it, and after a few practice taps, drummed out a quick little rhythm. The others were impressed.

"Ok, he's got some skills," said Lightshow. "I guess we can take him in."

"Where did you learn to do that?" Strings asked.

"Well, like I told Jazz, I used to like to hit things," Slowmotion said. "So when my creators noticed this they kind of taught me how to get a proper rhythm out of it by letting me listen to some music and then practicing what I heard."

"Your creators? You mean you had more than one?"

"Yeah. I was created by a pair – a mech called Backburner and a femme called Starchaser. We used to live in the South, but when the Decepticons attacked, they brought me to the Kaon border. But there were Decepticons invading from everywhere. Luckily we met an Autobot flyer who was coming into Dyacron on a supply run, and he offered to take one of us with him. So they sent me. That was the last I saw of them. I got here about 3 days ago."

"How did you manage to stay alive?" Electro asked.

"The flyer that brought me, he had a couple of energon cubes he could spare. My second and last one finished this morning. I guess it's a good thing Jazz found me or I might not have been alive for much longer. I didn't know where to go or what to do."

"To be honest, we're not that well-off on the energon front either," Electro said. "We try our best though."

"What do you do?"

"We're musicians. Well, at least most of us are." Electro shot a look at Lightshow.

"Hey, I'm just waiting for that bass guitar alright?" Lightshow replied. "We just need folks to start paying us in credits and not just energon."

"Speaking of music," Jazz interjected before Electro could retort. "Strings, I think I got that song done." He went over to where the blue mech was sitting. "Lets try to write this thing shall we?"

"My pleasure," Strings replied and picked up his guitar.

Lightshow laid back and shut his optics, trying to ignore the grinding of gears in his storage banks. He would have liked a little more energon, but since there was none, he would just have to bear with it. He knew the others were feeling the same way.

"Goodnight all," he said, and in a few minutes he was powering down, shutting off all non-essential systems to conserve what little energy he had left.

"That's the first thing he's done right all day," Electro said. He looked at Slowmotion. "You and I had better shut down too. There's no point in just wasting energy just sitting here and doing nothing."

"What about Jazz and Strings?" Slowmotion asked.

"Oh, they'll only sleep when they're done with their song-writing. Don't worry about them."

"Yeah, we'll be alright. You get some rest Slowmotion," said Jazz.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	6. Instruments

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

**Instruments**

Progress was slow. None of them had the strength to move far because for the most part they lay sleeping in an alley to conserve energy, when they were not moving or singing. In fact, they were barely 10 meters from where Jazz first found Slowmotion, and despite the young bot's inclusion, their daily supply of energon was still hard to come by. Try as they might, they could never get more than 3 energon cubes per day.

"This is ridiculous," Lightshow said as he dragged himself up to a sitting position. "There's got to be something we can do to improve our situation."

"Do you have any ideas?" Electro asked.

"Not at the moment."

"Then shut up till you do."

"Stop it, both of you," said Strings. "The last thing we need now is the two of you trying to kill each other. Honestly, cant you two just get along?"

Both guilty bots looked properly chastised and said nothing.

"So what are we going to do?" Slowmotion asked.

"The money," said Jazz, looking up. "We'll use the credits Maestro gave me and buy some energon."

"No!" the other four bots said in unison.

"We're saving it for its original purpose – an emergency," said Lightshow.

"And this is not?" asked Jazz. "Look at us, look at you. I'm not going to sit here and wait around for each of us to slowly go into deactivation."

"Then don't," Electro said. "Leave."

"What?!" the other four said again in unison.

"You're the one with the purpose and the promise. The rest of us were not solely created for what you were created for. You're the one who has to succeed, you're the one who has to make it to Iacon and live through this war that you say is coming, and you'll need those credits to make it."

"For once I agree with him," Lightshow said.

"We're not important Jazz, you are," Slowmotion added.

Jazz stood up. "I'm sorry you guys."

"Just go," said Strings.

Lightshow watched Jazz go and laid back down on the ground again. Around him the other three also fidgeted uncomfortably. With Jazz gone, none of them had any idea of what to do next. They didn't want to just lay down and die, but in their current low-energy state it didn't look like they would make it past the week either. Lightshow shut his optics, unwilling to make contact with any of the others, and eventually fell asleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Lightshow felt himself being shaken and dragged some of his systems back online.

"Leave me alone to die," he mumbled.

"Wake up you rusting bag of bolts."

"J-Jazz? Is that you?"

"Nah, it's the garbage mech. Yes its me! Now sit up and drink this for Primus' sake!"

Lightshow struggled up. "You cant be real. I'm dreaming."

Jazz smacked him upside the head. "That real enough?"

"Ow! Yeah, but what are you doing here? I thought you'd left?"

"I did. Now quit your jabbering and drink!" Jazz thrust a canister of energon to his mouth. "And when you're done, help me revive the others. I'm going to help Strings."

Lightshow quickly gulped down the can of surprisingly rich energon, then went over to Electro and Slowmotion. Each of them had a canister next to them. Nearby he could here Jazz quietly coaxing Strings up. He knelt by Electro.

"C'mon big guy, wake up." He shook Electro's shoulder.

"For the love of Primus, Lightshow if you don't leave me alone, I will rip your head off," Electro growled.

"Jazz came back. He's brought energon," Lightshow said.

Slowmotion propped himself up on his elbows. "Jazz is back?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Jazz said.

"Why did you come back?" Electro asked.

All of them turned to look at him, expecting him to answer the question.

"I was alone once when Maestro died. I couldn't do anything to save him, I understand that. But I don't want to be alone again, not when there's something I can do now to help you. I said I was sorry, but not for the reasons you thought."

"This energon, you bought it for us," said Lightshow. "Even when we told you not to."

"I'm not going to Iacon alone. I didn't spend much on the energon, if that's what you're worried about, but I spent enough to get something of good quality that should keep us on our feet for at least two days, and if you don't drink it now, it'll all be wasted and I'd have spent Maestro's credits in vain."

The others, except Lightshow who had already finished, drank their energon in silence. They never found out exactly how much Jazz had spent, and he wasn't about to tell them, but they were very grateful nonetheless.

"Thanks Jazz," Electro said later.

"Don't mention it," Jazz replied.

"So now what?" Slowmotion asked. "We go back to how we were?"

"No we don't," said Jazz. "I've given this whole band thing some thought and I've come to the conclusion that if this is what's going to keep us alive and see us through to Iacon and wherever we go after that, we have got to get a little more serious about it."

"I agree," said Electro.

"But we are serious," said Slowmotion. "We've already got two songs don't we?"

"We're not serious ENOUGH," Jazz continued. "Two songs barely scratches the surface. And playing on the streets is just not going to cut it."

"Then where do we play?" Strings asked.

"Establishments," said Electro, "Like bars and cafes and places like that. Music may be dying out, but there are a few bots who still come to listen."

"How do we get into places like those?"

"Maybe we can talk to the owners or play on the streets outside. Either way, we need to get some quality songs done first, and I say we start now," said Jazz.

"In that case, I'll see you guys later," said Lightshow.

"What? You're quitting on us?" asked Electro.

"Of course not rust-head! I'm not through making your life miserable yet. Jazz is right. So if we're gonna be a serious band, I'm gonna go to the junk yard and find myself a bass guitar if I can. And if I were you SlowMo, I'd start looking for a drumset too."

"He has a point," said Strings.

"Just try not to get lost," said Jazz. "Slowmotion. Go with him, see if you can find anything."

"Gotcha," the young mech said and jumped to his feet, glad to be full of energy again.

"Catch ya in a while," Lightshow said.

"Good luck," said Strings.

"You too."

Once the two were gone, Electro looked at Jazz and Strings worriedly.

"Was it wise to let the two of them go off together. Slowmotion is easily influenced you know," he said.

"And you think Lightshow will be bad influence?" asked Strings. "Electro, Lightshow is a good mech. He may be a bit raucous at times, but he IS a good mech. Just relax, they'll be fine."

"I'd trust Lightshow with my life Electro," said Jazz.

Electro said no more on the subject.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slowmotion and Lightshow cruised down the street at a fairly easy pace, enjoying the sights and sounds of the neighborhood as they headed down to the scrap yard, which wasn't really all that far away.

"You think this is the same scrap yard Electro said he worked at?" Slowmotion asked as he followed Lightshow.

"I don't know," the other mech replied. "I should ask him, make him take a little walk down memory lane with me."

"No offense Lightshow, but I think he'd sooner tell you to get slagged. He doesn't seem to like you much."

"Are you kidding? He loves me! Whatever gave you that idea young one?"

"Hey, I'm not THAT young ok?"

"Whatever you say young one," Lightshow snickered and suddenly braked to a halt, forcing Slowmotion to screech to a stop and transform.

"Now that was just plain mean."

Lightshow transformed, grinned and announced, "We're here!"

And they were. The scrap yard was just that. A big patch of bare land, now filled to the iron-mesh fences with all sorts of junk. Slowmotion stared at it.

"How are we ever going to find anything in there?" he asked.

"Pray we get lucky," Lightshow said and walked up to the main gate. He banged on it. "Anybody home?!"

A tall, mech came to the gate and pulled it open, yanking it out of Lightshow's hand. Lightshow looked the mech up and down. The mech's armour was blackened – and not by paint . Parts of the surface metal seemed to have melted off while the rest of it appeared to have fused to his framework. Lightshow wondered if someone had dipped him in an acid pit and drawn him back out again for him to look like this. He thought he could make out a shade of blue underneath the charring. His optic's finally came to rest on the mech's red face and he saw that the other looked rather painfully self-conscious.

"Well? Are you coming in or not?" the mech asked in a rather annoyed, accented voice.

Slowmotion shoved Lightshow inside, smiled at the other mech, and followed him. "Has anyone ever told you its rude to stare?" he asked Lightshow when they were out of audio-range.

"Not really," Lightshow replied. "It is?"

Slowmotion tossed him a look. "It is. Why were you staring anyway?"

"I've never seen a mech look like that before. I wonder what happened to him and why he doesn't get himself fixed."

"Maybe he cant afford the cost," Slowmotion replied.

Lightshow looked back over his shoulder just in time to see the tall mech get splattered with globs of thick, black oil, flung at him by a smaller red mech on the other side of the fence. He started to walk back, intending to do something, when Slowmotion caught his elbow and stopped him. They were close enough though to hear the exchange of words.

"I told you I'd get you!" the little red mech was yelling. "Face it Tracks, you'll never be good-looking. You'll always be something the smelter spat up."

"I'll make you eat your words Cliffjumper!" the taller mech yelled back. "Someday I will be admired, while you will be seen as nothing more than a braggart little runt."

Slowmotion tugged on Lightshow's arm. "C'mon, we haven't got much time and the others will be getting worried. Lets just go and do what we came to do."

Lightshow cast one more look back at the feuding pair, then followed Slowmotion further into the scrapyard. He went over to a pile of junk and started tossing pieces around. After a while, he moved to another pile. Slowmotion walked around picking up random pieces of metal and drumming on them to see what kind of sound he could get. They soon drifted apart. A couple of hours passed and Lightshow finally gave up. He straightened, looked around and saw no sign of Slowmotion.

"Slaggit, if I lose that kid, Electro and Jazz'll kill me," he muttered, then called aloud. "SlowMo! Where are you?!"

"Lightshow! Over here!" Slowmotion called from behind a particularly large mountain of junk.

Lightshow walked around and stopped short. The green mech was kneeling in front of what looked like four round, incredibly shallow metal objects strung together in two rows, with a third object like a garbage can lid attached to the upper row.

"Check it out!" he said. "A portable drumset, complete with cymbal. Someone must have just thrown it out 'cause it hasn't been buried by other junk. Cant find the drumsticks, but these will do." He held up two steel rods, about the length from his elbow to his wrist. "Guess I got lucky."

"Yay for you," Lightshow said. "I couldn't find a thing. Forget it, maybe I wasn't destined to play an instrument."

Slowmotion subspaced the drumset and placed the sticks in a small compartment in his right thigh. Then he stood up. "Oh you never know," he said.

They let themselves out through the gate since the other mech was too busy still trying to scrape the globs of oil off his body. As they drove back, Lightshow couldn't help feeling a touch disheartened, but tried not to show it.

They got back to the alley and walked inside. The others looked at them expectantly. Slowmotion was the first to speak and Lightshow let him.

"I found a drumset! Its almost brand new, I think it was just thrown out when I found it, and it plays like a dream," he gushed.

"That's great Slowmotion," said Electro.

"What about you Lightshow?" Strings asked. "You find anything?"

"Nah. Guess I'm all outta luck today," Lightshow replied. "Or I'm not supposed to ever contribute to the band."

Strings looked at Jazz. This was the first time Lightshow had responded without a smart remark somewhere in between. Jazz nodded. Strings nudged Electro.

"Well I suppose it's a good thing you didn't find anything," Electro said. "Otherwise we wouldn't be able to give you this, now would we?"

He unsubspaced a 4-string guitar, a little damaged and dented, but still playable. Lightshow just gaped, unable to think of anything witty to say. His mouth moved, but no audible sound came out. He looked at Electro, then at Strings, then at Jazz.

"Look Jazz, I think he just mouthed a thank you," Strings said with a laugh.

"You're welcome Lightshow," said Jazz. "Though you really should be thanking Electro. He's the one who found it."

"How?" Lightshow finally managed.

"A garbage truck came by while you were gone," Electro said. "And I just happened to be standing at the corner trying to think of some music when I saw one of the garbage-drones throw something in that looked a lot like a guitar. So I ran out on the street, stopped them, and had a look. Turned out I was right, and it was a bass, so I took it incase you weren't able to find anything."

Lightshow went over and took the guitar, sat down and ran his thumb across the strings. "I don't know what to say. Well, besides thank you, but I think you already got that one. This is… wow… this is so great. I can finally belong."

"You never didn't belong Lightshow," said Jazz.

"Oh hey, lets not get all sentimental and stuff. I mean, we've got songs to write and music to play, so lets get crackin' now. Time's a-wasting."

The others just grinned and pulled out their instruments, all except for Jazz, who took out a datapad that contained the lyrics for about two more songs they had managed to write.

Later that night, Lightshow went over and sat down next to Electro. The dark blue mech tossed him a curious look. Nearby, Jazz and Strings were re-writing some lyrics, while Slowmotion was busy cleaning up his drumkit. Electro himself was trying to compose some new music and didn't really want to get into another verbal sparring match.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah. I got a question for ya," Lightshow said.

Electro waited for the punch line. When nothing was forth-coming he asked, "What is it?"

"When you worked in the scrapyard, did you know a mech named Tracks?"

"Tracks," Electro repeated the name. "No, I didn't know him; though I knew of him – mostly gossip and here-say from other bots. Why? Run into him?"

"Sort of. Did those bots ever say what happened to him?"

"Well, the more consistent stories I heard was that he showed up on the warehouse doorstep one day looking like so much molten slag. Apparently there was a fire at one of the factories out of town – you know how those places are, slagging hazards the lot of them. Anyway, he was working in there when it happened and was trapped inside with a few other bots. He was one of the four who eventually managed to escape, but not before he'd sustained serious structural damage. The medics were able to fix his systems injuries, which were thankfully non-vital, but they lacked the technology and equipment to get his physical structure back to the way it was. So he's had to live like that ever since."

"Woah, sucks to be him," Lightshow said. "What about this other guy, Cliffjumper, I heard his name was."

"Again, I only heard stories from other bots. Remember when the first reports came out of Levatron that some bots had been killed by that leader of the whole revolt? Rumor has it that those bots had been Cliffjumper's family. They were the first bots to offer some resistance to the whole take-over, so the commander-mech ordered them to be destroyed. Cliffjumper escaped because he was a lot smaller and managed to slip past the larger robots. Ever since then, he's sworn eternal vengeance against the Decepticons."

"Yes, but he seems to be taking out some of it on other Autobots as well. Why is that?" Slowmotion asked.

"When you're the survivor of a Decepticon mass-slaughter, it means they didn't quite get the job done and thus, its like painting a big target on your back. That's what happened to Cliffjumper. Bots down in Levatron were afraid to help him because they feared being caught and killed. So they did everything possible to keep him away from them. His own friends started to treat him like he was the scum of the planet."

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do to a mech," said Slowmotion.

"You would have too, if you didn't want your name to go on the 'Con hit list. So Cliffjumper, because of all the rejection, built up this attitude that he could be tough all on his own, he didn't need help from anyone, and he wouldn't take scrap from anyone. Since no one gave a slag about him, in return, he would cease to give a slag about others."

"I think its all an act on his part," said Jazz. "All the bravado, its like a mask he wears to stop folks from getting too close. I mean, he couldn't even trust his own friends to be there for him. The closer you get to someone, the more you trust them, and the easier it is to be hurt by them. And sometimes, its better to be hurt by those you hate, rather than by those you love."

"Its interesting how bots like us are capable of deep and meaningful conversation," said Strings, as he plucked on his guitar. "Especially at this hour."

"Its gotta be the moons," said Lightshow. "They gotta be aligned or something, that's why they're making us act weird. I mean, Electro and I actually had a decent conversation, without trying to verbally deface each other."

"Imagine that," Electro deadpanned.

"Goes to show you that anything's possible," Slowmotion said as he idly tapped on the cymbal with one of his drumsticks."

"Slowmotion, stop that," Electro said.

"Stop what? Oh? Sorry." He put the stick down. "I tend to do that without thinking."

"Then I think its time we all got some rest," said Jazz. "We got work to do tomorrow."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Yes, there you have it, two more cameos from a couple of canon faces. You can actually find the full version of Tracks' back story right here, if you go to my profile and look for a fic titled "Only Skin Deep". Hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Five Stars

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

**Five Stars**

"Damn that mech to the inferno!" Electro burst out as he and Jazz walked out the bar.

"Its rejection Electro," Jazz said. "It comes with the package. Just gotta learn to deal."

"Don't suppose I can change the package huh?"

"Not unless you want to starve to death."

It had been two days since they'd started looking for a place to hire them. It was decided that Jazz and Electro would go down to whatever bars were in the area and talk to the managers. Strings and Slowmotion meanwhile had made some notices using large scraps of metal and leftover paint and were sticking them around the neighborhood. And Lightshow… he had decided to use his own brand of impeccable charm to try and blend in with the locals and advertise the band through word-of-mouth. Nothing had really worked so far.

"I see your point," Electro said. "Ah scrap, wouldn't want to play in a bar like that anyway."

The bar in question was a place called Scooterz. It served the usual heavy-duty energon: lots of buzz, very little burn; and said energon was usually served to its patrons by rather 'well-enhanced' femmebots, most of whom took a liking to Jazz.

"Yeah. I think I'd be afraid for my existence," Jazz said as he rotated his shoulder. "I didn't know femmes like that existed. If we stayed in there any longer I have a feeling they'd have been on me like filings on a magnet."

"Its the optics Jazz. You probably have that charming twinkle in them that femmes love," Electro said with a laugh.

"Right now I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. And whatever you do, don't tell Lightshow about that place."

"Not even under pain of death."

The five reconvened at an empty spot on the street a few hours later to compare results. The figures were not at all encouraging.

"One big, fat zero," Lightshow said.

"Are you sure this is going to work out?" Slowmotion asked. "Right now we don't have anything."

"I never said this was going to be easy, and neither are results going to be instant," said Jazz. "We've just got to be patient for a while. Something will turn up."

"In the meantime, lets just see if we can get us some energon for now ok?" Strings said.

The blue mech let out a barely audible sigh, summoned his guitar and leaned back against a wall. Jazz twitched an optic ridge up. Strings was trying to make his stance look casual, but Jazz was not fooled. He knew all this was starting to take its toll – on all of them, yes, but especially on Strings because of his condition. Again Jazz wondered if he made the right choice in bringing Strings along through all of this, and he wondered if he shouldn't try to find some place that Strings could settle into for good.

He dismissed the thought as soon as it came to him. Even if all four of them agreed, he knew Strings would never settle for being left behind. Still, he couldn't let the mech slowly die either. They needed a breakthrough.

"What are we playing?" Lightshow asked after tuning up.

"Lets give 'A Place' a try," Jazz said.

"The new one?" Electro asked, looking up from his keyboards.

"Yep. Lets break it in. Slowmotion, we're ready when you are."

The green mech nodded. "On four, three, two, one!"

_I've traveled down so many roads_

_Seen things you wouldn't believe_

_But all the while, I long for a place_

_Where I could stay and never leave._

_Bridge:_

_The world out there's exciting_

_Always full of things to see_

_Yet none of it's as appealing_

_As a home would be to me_

_Chorus:_

_Will I always be a wanderer_

_Destined to forever roam_

_Will I be this way_

_And never stay_

_In a place I can call home_

_Will I journey on unceasing_

_And forever walk alone_

_Always finding I'm too out of reach_

_Of a place I can call home._

_I've walked across so many miles_

_And passed through different places_

_But I never stayed round long enough_

_To recall familiar faces_

_Bridge and Chorus_

_Oh will this journey never end_

_Will I never find my peace_

_Will I never lay down_

_Rest my head on the ground_

_Will my travels never cease_

_Chorus_

_A place I can call… home……_

Applause. The small crowd that had gathered in front of them was applauding. The five looked at each other, not exactly sure what to think. It had been a long while since they'd gotten this kind of response. Lightshow winked and gave Jazz a thumbs-up. Jazz grinned back at him.

"Alright guys, why don't we give these nice folks one more song," he said.

"Take 'Jazz's Song'," Strings said. "Slowmotion, count us down."

"I have a better idea," a voice said. "Why don't you bots come with me."

All of them looked up to see a black and red mech pushing his way to the front of the crowd. He was broad, rather big, and looked to be a more well-to-do bot than the rest of their audience.

"Are we in some kind of trouble?" Jazz asked. "We're sorry if we disturbed ya, but the street is public property, and we're not doing anything wrong."

"I would like to have a little talk with the five of you, please. In private," the mech said.

"Alright," said Electro, subspacing his keyboards. "We'll follow you, but this better be worth our time. C'mon."

The others put away their stuff and together they followed the stranger down the street. Lightshow had his light panels charged up and ready incase the mech turned out to be shady and they had to make a quick escape. Evening was slowly turning to night and the stars were starting to twinkle brighter. All of them were tired and low on energy, and hoped that this little talk wouldn't take too long. The mech led them to a fancy little bar called 'The Lunarium' and held open the door for them. They all eyed him warily. Jazz spoke first.

"Listen, I'll just be honest. None of us can afford anything in here."

"Its on me," the mech said. "Please, go inside. I'm not going to hurt you."

Still on their guard, the five of them went in. The inside of the bar was unlike anything they'd seen before. The walls were mostly varying shades of silver, as was the floor. The ceiling was black, and on it was painted a variety of white moons. Bright blue neon lights along the edges provided the illumination, as did a few amber lights from below and behind the bar counter. The waiters were a handful of drones serving the few patrons that sparsely dotted the bar. The mech ushered the five over to a large table and bade them sit.

"Well, now that we are in private, mind telling us who you are and what you want with us?" Electro asked.

My name is Ignitio and I am the owner of The Lunarium. You must forgive my secrecy, but I would rather the bots on the street not know who I am," the mech said. "The reason I asked you here was to offer you a deal."

That made all of them sit up, except Strings, who had his head resting in his hands. Jazz noticed.

"Is it possible to get some energon for our friend here first?" he asked Ignitio. "I'm afraid he's not feeling well."

"Of course!" Ignitio replied. "Where are my manners, you must all be very tired." He clapped his hands and a drone came up. "Bring five large canisters of energon, and make it quick!"

The drone beeped twice in response and motored to the bar. It came back minutes later carrying a tray of five canisters, which it set down in front of each mech.

"Here you go Strings, drink up," Lightshow said, patting the blue mech on the back.

Strings gratefully gulped down half the can. The others followed at a slightly slower pace. Lightshow put his can down first.

"So what kind of deal is this?" he asked Ignitio, who had been waiting patiently.

"A musical deal," the bot replied. "As you can see, my business has been a little slow as of late, and I would like to do something to pick it up again. Judging by the crowd I saw gathered just now, you kids are good musicians, and just what I need. I would like to hire you on a permanent basis."

"Well, you see, we're on our way to Iacon," Slowmotion said, and got no further as Jazz stretched out a leg under the table and kicked him.

"To Iacon? If I'm not being too curious, why, may I ask, are you going to Iacon?"

"Our creator died recently," Jazz said. "And his last words were that we go to Iacon and find his best friend. So y'see, we're kinda obligated. We'd love to stay and play for you forever, but we did promise."

"I am sorry for your loss, and I understand," Ignitio said.

"Five days," said Electro. "We'll perform for five days here – it can be a sort of promotion thing. In return, you give us lodging, energon and 30 credits each, per day."

"Ten credits."

"Make it 20 credits and you have a deal."

"Very well, 20 credits and 2 cubes of energon per day. Now what did you say your names were again?" They introduced themselves. "Alright. Now if you would excuse me, I have to go and make some arrangements."

Once Ignitio was gone, there were high-fives all around.

"But I don't understand why we didn't tell him about the war," said Slowmotion.

"We don't want him thinking we're all a bunch of rust-heads," said Lightshow. "In future, just let Jazz and Electro handle the negotiations. They know what they're doing."

"Are my audios deceiving me or did Lightshow just compliment me?" Electro asked.

"At least there aren't any gladiator femmebots," Jazz said. The other three looked at him. "Uh… bad experience this morning."

"There are such things?" Lightshow asked.

"Trust me Lightshow, if you'd met them, they'd be wearing your wiring as garlands," said Electro.

"Y'know we'll have to think of a name for the band," Strings said quietly.

That shut them all up. None of them had really given it any real thought – until now. For a good, long while they sat and tried to come up with a name that would best represent who they were. An hour passed. Ignitio still hadn't returned, and none of them were any closer to thinking up a good name. Jazz looked up and gazed through the small, round porthole that was positioned just above their table. He could just make out the two full moons in a corner. A cluster of stars occupied his direct line of sight. Maestro loved stars, he liked to go outside some nights and gaze at them for a while. Jazz never knew why he did it, and even when he'd asked the old mech, the answer had been vague.

_Each of us is a star Jazz, all born to shine. And eventhough sometimes we may flicker or twinkle, there's still light in us – the light to guide others and give them hope that things will eventually be alright in the end. You are my star Jazz._

Jazz looked at the other four. They were not just his bandmates, they were his friends – best friends. They were his guides and hope, just as he was theirs. They were his stars. Five.

"Five stars," he said out loud.

The others looked at him.

"What?" asked Electro.

"The name of the band, why don't we call it 'Five Stars'?"

Lightshow grinned. "Five Stars… like we're very highly-rated. I like it."

"It does have a certain ring to it," said Strings.

"And it's the best we've got," Slowmotion added.

"It's the only one we've got," Electro said. "Okay, Five Stars it is then."

They were just in time. No sooner had they agreed upon it when Ignitio came back.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, I forgot to ask you what your band was called."

"We're called Five Stars," said Jazz, and the others nodded.

Ignitio smiled. "Very nice…. Now if you will follow me, I will show you where you will be lodged for the next few days. And it has been arranged, your first performance will be tomorrow night. Rest as well as you can." He led them out of the main bar through a small door behind the bar counter and up a flight of stairs to the next level; down a small corridor and stopped at two adjoining doors. "I'm afraid we only have two rooms to spare. The one on your left can accommodate three, the one on your right, two. Share as you will. Goodnight."

"Slowmotion and Electro, take the double," Jazz said once Ignitio was gone. "Strings, Lightshow and I can share the triple."

"Works for me," said Electro. "No incessant chatter."

"Same here," said Lightshow. "No noisy air circulation."

Jazz opened his respective room door and shoved Lightshow inside. Strings said goodnight on behalf of them and followed Jazz in, shutting the door behind him. Electro and Slowmotion did the same.

The rooms had only the basic necessities: lights, temperature regulator and a recharge berth lined against each wall. Yet to each bot, after sleeping on the streets for so many nights, these were welcome comforts. As soon as they were lying in their berths, they shut down almost immediately. Lightshow was the first to fall asleep. And without having to concern themselves about what to do the next day, they slept restfully for the first time in months.

-----------------------------------------------------

Jazz wasn't the only one who sat for hours trying to think of a good name for the band...


	8. Symbol

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

**Symbol.**

It was the fifth night of their commitment. The bar was now closed to the public, and the five sat at the large table where they'd sat the night they were hired, all of them bent over a large holo-map of the city-state of Dyacron that was spread across the table.

"So what are we looking at?" Lightshow asked.

"Well, basically the entire province of Dyacron is divided into 10 sectors," said Jazz. "We are currently between Sectors 1 and 2. Sector 10 ends at the border dividing Dyacron and Polyhex. So if we keep going north-east through all 10 sectors we should eventually reach Polyhex."

"And how long would that take?" asked Slowmotion.

"A few weeks to a month, it depends on how fast and how frequently we move," Jazz replied.

"Starting tomorrow," Strings said. "We should try and spend no longer than 3 to 5 days in each sector."

Electro leaned back. "I just wish we had some way of knowing what the Decepticon situation is like right now. That way we'd know how much time we have and how fast we should go."

Slowmotion shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing.

"I, for one, would rather not know," Lightshow said.

"So you'd rather the war come crashing down on your head with no warning at all?" Electro asked.

"Yeah. At least that way I wouldn't be counting down how many more days I had to live," Lightshow replied.

"Can the two of you please find another topic to argue about?" Strings asked.

"We're not arguing," said Electro.

"Yeah, I'm merely giving Electro my opinion," Lightshow added. "Its not arguing till I insult him."

"Nevermind," said Jazz. "Just pick another topic, or even better, shut up completely. We have more immediate concerns, and what's going on in the South ain't one of them."

"How do you know its just the South anymore?" Electro asked. "How do you know if the Decepticons haven't advanced any further?"

"We don't, now let it go," Jazz said firmly.

"You guys, quit it," Slowmotion interrupted. "Ignitio's coming this way."

They stopped as the black and red mech came up to them, a wide smile stretched across his face.

"Well kids," he said. "Thanks to you business has improved quite a bit. Are you sure I cant change your minds into staying on with me?"

"We're sorry Ignitio," Jazz said. "And you know what they say about too much of a good thing. We really cant stay. Y'know, the whole promise thing."

"Yes I know, but you cant blame a bot for trying. I hope all the accounts are in order."

"They're crystal clear," said Electro.

"That is good. What time do you plan to leave?"

"First thing in the morning," said Strings. "And, as a matter of fact, if we're going to do that, we should probably all go and get some sleep. It's late."

"Most definitely. You bots go. I will see you off tomorrow."

The group took their leave and dispersed to their respective rooms. Ignitio watched them go, then went over to the bar counter and activated a communicator.

------------------------------------------

The next day, the group gathered at the front door, ready to leave.

"I wish we didn't have to go," said Slowmotion.

"I know SlowMo, but you know we have to," said Lightshow.

"Staying is not an option," Electro said. "We all decided on that."

"Well yeah Electro, but he's just a kid. He's allowed to feel a little apprehensive," Lightshow retorted.

Jazz and Strings shot them both warning looks that shut them both up. Lightshow crossed his arms and let his lip components curl into that insufferable grin of his, at which Electro frowned. Jazz sighed.

"The way you two sound, anyone would think you'd been partnered to each other for eons," he said. "Why do you two find it so hard to get along?"

"One of this existence's unexplained mysteries," Lightshow said.

"THAT'S why," Electro said. "He always tries to be so smart."

"Oh I don't TRY, I AM," the maroon mech retorted.

"Why are we waiting out here again?" Slowmotion asked.

"Because Ignitio asked us to. Though if he takes any longer we're gonna have to just go, 'cause we haven't got all day," said Strings.

Right then, however, Ignitio appeared. "Thank you for waiting. I just had a few last-minute calls to make. Here, take this." He summoned a datapad and gave it to Jazz. "I put in a few calls last night and again early this morning to some bars and clubs I know in the other sectors of Dyacron, and told them to expect you guys at some point. That datapad contains the list of bars and their owners, as well as the map you were looking at last night. They should be of help to you."

The group was stunned. Jazz recovered first.

"That's real nice of you Ignitio," he said. "Thanks a lot. We wont forget you."

"Nor will I forget you. Farewell my friends. I hope you reach Iacon safely."

The group said their goodbyes, transformed and drove off down the street together. Ignitio went back into his bar.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"I really think we should have told him about the war," Slowmotion said once they'd driven out of range.

"Who says I didn't," said Jazz.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" Electro asked.

"Left a note behind the bar counter."

"Ooh, sneaky Jazz, you're good," said Lightshow, the smirk obvious in his voice. "So what now boss?"

"I'm not your boss," Jazz said quickly, rather disturbed to think that was how they saw him. "We're all equal in this, there are no bosses. Anyways I thought we'd go right through Sector 2 and into Sector 3 by at least tomorrow or the day after. We're all well energized so I don't see a reason to stop."

"Sure thing boss," Lightshow replied.

Jazz increased speed and rammed him from behind, inciting a mischievous cackle from the hover-cycle, indicating he'd gotten under Jazz's metallic hide once again.

"I just thought of something," he said once Jazz had put a little more distance between them.

"You can think?" Electro couldn't resist saying, earning himself a knock on his bumper from Strings.

"Ooh, try aiming a little more to the left there Electro, you missed the fuel pump completely," Lightshow retorted.

"Your thought Lightshow, either get to it or get another dent on the tailpipe. Your choice," Jazz warned.

"SlowMo doesn't have an Autobot symbol. And unless we can paint one on him, we're gonna have a hard time convincing folks that he is."

The others took a moment to digest this. It was true. The closer they got to more Autobot-dominated areas, the more the symbols would reinforce their identity. To be seen without one, well that would raise unwanted, and unjustified suspicion. Jazz veered to his left, braked and transformed. The others halted as well.

"Lightshow, get over here," he called.

The maroon mech switched back to robot form and went and stood on the sidewalk near Jazz.

"Turn around," the black and white ordered.

Making a puzzled face, Lightshow turned his back to Jazz. Jazz then knelt down and took a closer look at the Autobot symbol painted on his lower back. Lightshow glanced at him over his shoulder.

"Y'know, bots are watching us and I have a feeling the thoughts going through their processors about us aren't very nice," he said. "And I'll admit I don't blame them. I'd be thinking the same thing too."

"Well, I'm not the idiot who had the Autobot symbol painted on his skidplate now am I?" Jazz replied.

"Heh, it was rather funny really. You should've seen the look on the mech's face when I told him, but he couldn't say no 'cause there was no law on where it could or couldn't be painted. Flaire thought it was hilarious."

"Why does Lightshow say that other bots will think badly of him and Jazz?" Slowmotion asked.

"Because it was Lightshow who said it, and Lightshow is stupid. So you shouldn't always listen to the noise that comes out of his mouth," Electro said.

"Young bot's pretty naïve," Lightshow murmured.

"Shut up," Jazz snapped.

"Or what? You're gonna spank me? That might just get us locked up Jazz, remember the last time…."

"Lightshow, shut it!" this time it was Strings who spoke up.

Miraculously, Lightshow shut his mouth. Jazz stood up.

"Now all we need is some red paint and a stencil," he said. "And hopefully, there'll be a hardware store around here somewhere."

"Lets look then. Might as well get this over and done with," said Electro.

Jazz and Lightshow transformed and the group drove around looking for a place that might be selling what they needed. They finally found a store selling the exact shade of red paint that was used to paint the insignia, unfortunately, as they soon found out, that particular shade and paint was also very expensive, as it resisted just about every chemical and remover that could be found. It set them back a good 50 credits that Electro grudgingly paid for the small tin. They finally stopped in a by-road and transformed.

"Guess we can forget the stencil," said Jazz. "I'll just have to try and paint it free-hand."

"Here's a suggestion: just paint it on his skidplate where bots will barely look. That way you wont have to worry about anyone noticing flaws," Lightshow said.

"No posteriors please!" said Electro.

"But Lightshow does have a point. Shouldn't paint it somewhere too noticeable," said Jazz.

"What about a leg panel?" Strings asked.

"That could work," Jazz replied. "Slowmotion, place your foot against the wall and hold really still."

Once Slowmotion did that, Jazz straddled his leg, bent over and carefully began painting on the symbol.

Lightshow wisely kept all snarky comments to himself. "The things we do for an Autobot symbol," he muttered.

At last Jazz finished and Slowmotion lowered his leg.

"Just let it dry a while," Jazz said. "Hopefully, with Lightshow having the insignia on his aft, no one will think it too strange if you have one on your leg."

"Right then. If the whole debacle with the insignia is done, can we please get back to our original travel plan?" Electro asked. "We've already wasted a good few hours."

"Well frag, don't get your coolant tubes in a twist," Lightshow said. "This had to be done."

"Yes, and now its done. Lets go."

"Pushy ain't he?" Lightshow muttered to Jazz as they transformed and headed back onto the road.

Jazz sighed. "We might as well take it a bit easy," he said. "There's no way we'll get into Sector 3 by tomorrow anyway, so we might as well take our time and conserve some fuel for the long run."

"You're the boss," Electro muttered as he slowed.

Strings pulled up alongside Jazz. "No one ever said leadership was easy. Just do your best."

"But I never asked to be a leader," Jazz replied.

"A lot of us don't ask for things, but they happen anyway. Sometimes its just who we are. You cant run or hide from who you are, or say you don't want to be yourself."

"So you're saying its my destiny to be a leader?"

"Maybe. You may be destined to be a leader Jazz, but its up to you to decide where you want to lead your followers to. That's what makes a good leader."

"You're a good motivator Strings."

----------------------------------------------------------

I had alot of fun when writing this bit. Lightshow just came into his own and soon became a character I couldn't do without. He was every bit the loose cannon the others needed to spur them into action, including Jazz. At one point he even threatened to steal the spotlight away from Jazz, so I had fun trying to wrangle the role of main character away from him. If Jazz feels a little out of character in this fic, it's cos he probably is. This is a very very young Jazz, long before he ever heard of the word Special Operations and Optimus Prime. If you wanted to think of it in human ages, Jazz is somewhat akin to a teenager here, whereas in G1 he's probably in his early 30s.


	9. Haze

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

**Haze.**

It was back to the alleys again. After driving for what was left of the afternoon, they'd finally turned into the rather spacious alley to rest for the remainder of the day. The other four were busy fine-tuning or cleaning up their instruments while Jazz sat with his back to a wall, trying to scribble down some lyrics to a new song. Yet, for some reason – he didn't know what it was – he kept getting distracted. For the fifth time in the space of two hours he looked up and glanced around the alley – mostly deserted except for the group and a cluster of garbage cans at the far end.

"Something wrong?" Lightshow asked.

"I don't know," Jazz replied. "You ever get the feeling that something's not right?"

"You mean now or in general?"

"Now. Like right now, at this moment."

"Not really, why? You hearing something?"

"I thought I heard some scritching."

"It could have been turbomice. Alleys are usually full of the little slaggers."

"Or it could be that we're not alone."

Jazz got up, subspaced his datapad and walked cautiously over towards the trash cans. The others watched him warily.

"What is it?" Electro asked.

"Probably nothing, but just stay where you are all the same. Be ready to take off if I give the word," Jazz replied. He reached the cans, stopped and slowly bent over to look behind them. "Well melt me down and call me slag!" he exclaimed. "What in Primus' name are you doing back there?!"

The others heard what was unmistakably another robot's voice.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just recording you guys."

"You were what?! Get out here!"

Jazz leaned over and, to the others' complete and utter amazement, hauled out a little femmebot. Electro frowned, Lightshow grinned, Slowmotion gaped and Strings remained as he was. The little femme smiled sheepishly. In her hand she held a portable audio-visual recording device that she raised to Jazz's face.

"Switch that thing off and put it away," he ordered.

"But I'm just recording a documentary of your band – to sell to the big communication stations once you all become rich and famous. It'll be called 'Five Stars: The Beginning'."

"Put it away, NOW."

"Oh alright." The femme switched off the device and subspaced it.

Jazz put her down on her feet, but kept a firm hold on her arm. The others still hadn't gotten over their initial shock, so Strings spoke up.

"Who is she Jazz?" he asked.

"I don't know her name, but I saw her at all of our performances at the Lunarium. She was always close to the front of the stage."

"My name is Haze," the femme said. "And you don't have to hold onto me, I'm not going to run away."

Jazz nevertheless partially dragged her over to where the others were. "Sit down. You have a lot of explaining to do young bot, starting with what you're doing here."

"Like I said, I'm doing a documentary on Five Stars. I think you guys are like, totally awesome! So I followed you after you left the Lunarium."

"You really think we're that good?" Lightshow asked.

"Lightshow, not now," said Electro. "Does your creator know you're out here?"

Haze squirmed, her light pink and white body twitching uncomfortably. "Not exactly."

"Oh this is just great. Do you even realize the situation you've put us into? If the Autobot Civil Defense is sent out to look for you and they find you with us, we could be arrested for kidnapping!"

"Electro please, some tact," said Strings.

Electro crossed his arms and glowered, but said nothing back.

"I don't think it'll come to that," said Jazz. "But your creator will be worried about you if you're gone for too long."

"Oh please don't send me back! I'll be in so much trouble. Let me come with you guys, I wont get in the way, I promise!"

"No! Absolutely not. I will not allow it. Don't even think about it. No. No no no," Electro burst out.

"And who died and made you boss?" Lightshow asked.

"Stop it, both of you," Strings cut in. "Your petty bickering is not helping matters."

"I can help you!" Haze insisted. "I can even sing, listen…."

"Haze, slow down," said Jazz. "Now you listen to me. Why do you want to come with us so badly?"

"Like I said, I think you guys are great! I wanna live the life you guys live. All the attention and cool stuff you do, the touring, the screaming fans, being on stage. I want to experience all that."

"Primus, did you pick the wrong band to follow," Slowmotion said.

"What do you mean?" Haze asked.

"Y'know all that stuff you just mentioned," Jazz said. "We don't have any of it. Till Ignitio hired us to play at the Lunarium, we played on the streets where nobody even gave us a second look. We sleep in alleys and sometimes go for days without any energon sustenance. That's the life we live."

"Oh… but I'd still really like to come with you."

"This is not the life for you Haze," said Strings.

"But if you leave me here I have nowhere to go. I don't know how to get back home."

"You should have thought of that before you decided to follow us," Electro muttered.

"Isn't there anywhere you can go?" Slowmotion asked.

"We're certainly not accompanying you all the way back to the Lunarium," Electro said. "So don't any of the rest of you even suggest it."

"Again I ask, since when did you become our fearless leader?" Lightshow asked. "I don't recall you ever getting elected."

"Lightshow stop," said Jazz. "Electro, if you've got nothing constructive to say, don't say anything. Haze, you better think of something or we'll have no choice but to leave you. Strings is right. The life we live ain't no place for a little femme like you."

"Well, there is one other option," Haze said. "I have a sister of sorts who works at a chemical plant in Sector 4. I haven't seen her in ages, so…."

Jazz considered this. "Alright," he said at last, talking over the exasperated sigh from Electro. "You can hang with us till we get to Sector 4, after which you're contacting your sister and asking her to come get you. And since you promised not to get in the way, do we have a deal?"

"It's a deal, but can I still record my documentary?"

"NO!" all five of them said together.

"Fine, but I'm telling you you're missing out on a potential future credit-making opportunity."

"I think we'll take that risk," said Jazz.

Suddenly Slowmotion sat up. "Have you been recording every single thing we did all day?" he asked Haze.

"Pretty much," she replied.

The green mech looked at Jazz, glanced at his own leg, then looked back at Jazz again. Jazz immediately understood. There was the possibility that Haze might have footage of them painting on Slowmotion's Autobot symbol, and if that ever leaked out, they would all be in big trouble.

"I think, due to copyright reasons on our part, we'll have to ask you for the disk," Jazz said.

Haze looked crestfallen. "But why? I wont do anything wrong with it, I promise. Don't you trust me?"

Electro snorted in response and the other 4 shot him stern looks, which he ignored.

"We trust ya Haze," said Jazz. "But the truth is, you recorded us without our permission or knowledge, and that's kinda breaking the rules on your part." Jazz felt incredibly guilty for saying that. Here he was lecturing a little shebot about breaking rules when only hours earlier, he and the rest of the group had done just that.

Haze relented. "Okay," she said dejectedly. She unsubspaced the recorder, took out the disc and gave it to Jazz.

He in turn subspaced it. "Thanks. You're a good kid Haze."

Haze flashed him a beaming smile. Electro rolled his optics and sighed in resignation.

---------------------------------------------------

Haze tossed and turned on the cold, hard ground, but couldn't seem to shut down. Finally she gave up trying and sat up. Most of the other bots were asleep, but to her surprise she saw Jazz still awake, bent over a datapad, muttering to himself.

"You should be sleeping young bot," he said out loud.

"I cant. The ground's too hard," Haze replied.

"Well, you said you wanted to experience how we live so, welcome to our world."

"Yeah, I guess I asked for it." She stood up and came over to him. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I should, but I need to get a song done and at the moment I'm kinda lacking in inspiration."

"Can I help?" She sat down next to him, optics wide and earnest.

Jazz chuckled. "No offense li'l one, but you don't really get my creative juices flowing. Don't worry, I'll think of something eventually."

"And you're gonna sit here all night till you do?"

"Most likely."

"Good. Then I'll keep you company."

Jazz looked at her. Haze's pink and white frame was quite small compared to most femmes he'd seen and her face reflected every bit of her young innocence. Indeed she was incredibly young, probably even younger than Slowmotion. Yet there was something in her optics that reflected a tinge of unhappiness.

"Tell me Haze, what made you decide to follow us?" he asked. "I mean apart from you liking the band."

Haze looked around carefully, then leaned forward and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

Jazz decided to humor her. "Cross my fuel pump and hope to rust."

"My creator's a real, y'know, glitch. I mean, she creates us and then doesn't even know what she created us for – at least apart from smacking us around. She said it was to toughen us up. My sister, she's a lot older and smarter than I am, she told me she thought our creator was planning to sell us off to the Decepticons."

"What?!" Jazz stifled himself from shouting out loud. "But why would she do that to her own steel and oil?"

"I don't know, but that's why my sister left. She said she was going to try and find a job somewhere and save up some credits and then come back for me. But she's been gone for a long while now, and I'm tired of waiting."

Jazz touched her shoulder. "Well cheer up. We'll get you to your sister somehow. Right now though, I think hard ground or not, you should be getting some rest."

"I will if you will," she said.

"Shebots first," he replied. "But don't worry, I will soon."

Haze resignedly went back to her spot and in a matter of minutes she was soon shut down. Jazz bent back over his datapad again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Haze awoke to the sound of Jazz's voice asking her to get up and get ready to leave. She groggily brought her optics back online and got to her feet. This was her third day with the band, and though she enjoyed being with most of them and being away from her home, the experience was far from what she had expected. The drives were long – Jazz and Electro had pushed them all to the limit the previous day – and energon was scarce. Still, she didn't complain; she knew she'd brought this on herself. At least Jazz and Strings were nice to her, and she stayed as close to them as possible, keeping a nice, big distance between herself and Electro.

She transformed with the others and followed them out onto the road. The little wheels on her alt mode were a minor hindrance sometimes, but otherwise she was easily able to keep pace with them.

Jazz kept a watchful optic on her at all times, but not for the same reasons Electro did. The dark blue mech saw her as nothing more than a pesky turbofly that needed to be swatted away. However, Jazz had been given the gift to see beyond the surface. After she'd talked to him the other night, he knew she had more depth than what was visible to the optics. He had to admit he was a smidge impressed. She hadn't complained once during their long drive yesterday. He wished he could have gone a little easier on her, but that would have been unfair to the others. They had a longer run than she did, not to mention Electro would have right blown a gasket. Still, she seemed to be handling rather well. Better a street life, he figured, than being sent to fight with the Decepticons. He slowed down a little to let her catch up to him.

"You doing alright young bot?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," she replied.

Lightshow sidled up on her other side. "Not exactly the experience you signed up for huh?"

"No, not really. How do you all do this everyday?"

"Because we must," Jazz replied simply.

"But why not stay in one place and play forever?"

Lightshow was about to answer when Jazz cut him off. "That would get old fast don't you think? Imagine doing the same thing over and over again everyday, for the rest of your life."

"Yeah. I can see how that could get boring. And in a way being homeless is kinda fun too. No rules and restrictions."

"Heh, you'd be surprised," Lightshow said. "Jazz has us under strict control."

"Jazz? Really? He doesn't seem like the bossy type."

"He's not, but he's not a pushover either. That's why he's our fearless leader. Whoo! Hey I should write a song about you." Lightshow revved his engine in a way that Jazz knew he was grinning from audio to audio.

"Shut up micro-brain," Jazz said.

"Yes sir, fearless leader sir," Lightshow cackled, revved his engine once more and sped off ahead of the group.

"How come you haven't kicked him out yet?" Haze asked.

"Y'know I ask myself that question everyday," Jazz replied.

"Because in his core he's a good mech. His insanity is just a disguise to cover a pure spark. He's as loyal a friend as they come, and we're lucky to have him," Strings said from behind them. "Though some would appreciate him less than others."

Ahead of them Lightshow uttered a fake sob. "Aw, you guys DO love me! I'm so touched!"

"And then there are days where you just want to kill him and hide the body," said Electro.

"Face it Electro, you're just jealous of my good looks," Lightshow quipped.

"Yeah, if I wanted to look like something a trash compactor spat out," Electro retorted.

"Your aim's improving," Lightshow said, completely unfazed. "This one was nearer the mark."

Electro revved his own engine noisily and pulled a little more to the right – the equivalent of a grunt and an optic roll.

Lightshow snickered – another victory won.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Late in the afternoon they reached Sector 3 and then spent a few hours looking for the bar from the list Ignitio had given them. They finally found The Grid nestled in a little corner of the street. All of them reverted back to robot mode and approached the doors. A large security bot blocked their way.

"We're closed," he said flatly.

"Oh, no worries," Jazz said. "We're not here to party, we're here to see the owner Fineline."

"Purpose of visit?" the bot asked.

"We're the band Five Stars. Ignitio from the Lunarium sent us."

The security bot activated a comm.line. "Yeah, I got a bunch of kids here. Said a mech called Ignitio sent 'em. Uh-huh. They say they're a band. Alright." He looked back at them and opened a door. "You can go in."

They filed past him one by one. Then just as Haze was about to head inside, the mech stuck out an arm and stopped her.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" she asked.

"You're not going in there," the mech said.

"Why not?"

"You're too young. Unless you're part of the band, you're not going inside. Are you part of the band?"

Haze looked back at a loss. Jazz, Strings and Lightshow couldn't help her as they had already gone inside and were talking to Fineline the owner. Her gaze fell on Electro and she looked at him imploringly.

"She's part of the band," Electro said resignedly.

"Oh really, what does she do?" the other mech asked.

"She sings," replied Electro.

The security bot looked skeptical. "You'd better hope you're telling the truth." He let them in.

Once inside, Electro caught Haze's arm and pulled her a little roughly to one side. "For all our sakes you'd better be able to sing, or so help me Primus…."

"Electro lay off," Jazz said, coming towards them. "Now will someone please explain what just happened."

"We said Haze was a member of Five Stars so that security would let her in. if she doesn't sing, there is the highly likely chance that we could all get kicked out of here," Electro said. "And if we do let her sing…."

"What are you trying to say? That I cant sing?" asked Haze. "How do you know, you haven't even heard me!"

"She has a point Electro, we shouldn't judge; and maybe I can talk to Fineline and explain the situation."

"I don't think that's a good idea. What if he takes the same mindset as his security. We'll just have to let her sing and hope for the best."

"Alright," Jazz said. "C'mon Haze, lets go learn some songs."

"One song," Electro cut in. "Give her just one song to prove that she sings with us. That's enough."

Jazz rolled his optics. "Let's go Haze. I'll teach you an easy one. Its one of the newer ones I wrote, you would have heard us performing it: 'A Place I Can Call Home'."

"Ooh I liked that."

"I thought you would."

Electro shook his head as he watched them go...

That night the band assembled before quite a fair-sized crowd, who took a while longer to warm upto them than the crowd at the Lunarium. They finished a repertoire of about 5 songs and then retreated to the back area of the makeshift stage for a small break. Haze stood there looking really nervous.

"I don't think I can do this," she said.

"You'd better not be getting cold wheels now," Electro said. "Our very existence depends on you. You may see this as all fun and games, but to us this is our livelihood. You better not let us down."

"Electro, back off," said Jazz. "This is not what she needs to hear right now." He turned to the femme. "Haze, you can do this. Just pretend you're rehearsing with me all over again. Don't worry about the crowd, we'll warm them up for you."

Haze nodded. "I'll try my best."

Jazz gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then went back outside with the rest of the band to start the second set. Four songs later, Haze joined them for her song. When she finished the crowd cheered. Jazz smiled at her and winked.

"And now we'd like to perform our last song for the night," he said. "And it's a little number I like to call 'Smile'."

_I know you feel like_

_You're on a lonely road._

_And you feel like there's nobody_

_To help you bear the load_

_But don't despair_

_You'll make it there_

_Just believe in you_

_You'll make it through, so…_

_Chorus_

_Hey young one_

_Lift up your head and smile_

_A new day'll be here_

_In a little while_

_The night will pass_

_Just hold on tight_

_And when its gone_

_You'll see the light_

_So… young one…_

_Lift up your head and smile._

_I know you think that_

_You're out here alone_

_You felt nobody cared for you_

_Or made you feel at home_

_But don't give in_

_You can win_

_You'll find your way_

_To a better day, and…_

_Chorus_

_It's a lonely world out here_

_And some don't understand_

_It doesn't take very much at all_

_To lend a helping hand_

_So don't forget where you're coming from_

_No matter where you're going to_

_Happiness sometimes can be found_

_In the little things you do._

_Chorus._

"Thank you and goodnight!" Lightshow called as they retreated off the stage.

"You wrote the song," Haze said to Jazz.

"Lets just say I had a little inspiration," Jazz replied.

"Thanks for sticking up for me. At least I'll be out of your circuits soon."

"Yeah. And I'm not gonna say we wont miss you either."

Haze grinned.

-----------------------------------------

Sector 4 arrived at last and with it came a lounge-type bar called – fittingly – Unwind. Jazz quickly realized that their brand of music would sound a little out of place in a bar like this, so from the moment they arrived he, Strings and Electro spent the rest of the time they had writing out alternate arrangements to some of their songs. Before that however, Electro turned to Lightshow and Slowmotion.

"Take Haze and find a way to contact her sister. This is where her journey ends."

The femme looked a little crestfallen, but resigned herself to following the other two mechs out of the room. They headed down to the main bar area and went upto the counter where the bartender-bot was preparing for the night.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I need to contact my sister," Haze said timidly. "She's uh, working in one of the chemical plants in this sector."

The mech placed an audio communicator on the counter. "Just key in her comm.link frequency and speak."

"Go for it girlbot," said Lightshow. "This is your chance."

Haze nervously keyed in the frequency. "Hey sis, its Haze, can you hear me?"

There was a moment of crackling on the speaker before another female voice answered – this one older and slightly deeper.

"Haze? Is that really you? Oh Primus above, are you alright? Where are you?"

"I'm fine sis. I'm here in Sector 4, at Unwind. Can you come get me?"

"Of course I can, but how did you get here?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it when I see you."

"Alright, don't go anywhere. I'll be there soon."

The connection closed. Haze turned to the two mechs with a small smile. Lightshow grinned and patted her on the back.

"Well, while our three musical prodigies are busy working on tonight's repertoire, the three of us can have ourselves a little chat till your sister arrives," he said.

He led the way to a small table in a corner and they spent the next couple of hours telling Haze a little more about themselves, or at least Slowmotion did. Lightshow fell completely silent after a while. Slowmotion glanced at him once and it looked like the maroon mech was having some sort of internal debate. Either that or he was busy talking to one of the voices in his head; with Lightshow you never could tell. The bot had a lot of voices…. Finally he gave an imperceptible nod, as if he had come to some conclusion or agreement.

"Haze, do me one favor," he said. "Once you and your sister have collected enough money for yourselves, don't stay here. As soon as you're able, head for one of the more fortified, Autobot-dominated cities where you'll be well protected."

"Protected from what?" Haze asked.

Lightshow met her optics. "That I cant tell you. I've already gone against Jazz in telling you this much. I don't think he'd like me telling you anymore. You'll just have to trust me."

"I do trust you, but the question is, will my sister?"

"Make her. Its not safe here anymore. You have to get out and make it to an Autobot-friendly area."

"I'll try my best Lightshow, though I wish you would just tell me what it is we're running from."

"Decepticons," said Slowmotion suddenly. "Is that enough for you?"

Haze fell silent and just nodded. A long moment of silence passed, during which the front doors to Unwind opened and a femme stepped in. She glanced quickly around the area, optics finally coming to rest on the trio.

"Haze!" she called.

The other femme snapped her head up in the direction of the voice, her optics widened and a smile crept across her face.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lightshow asked. "Go give her a hug."

Haze jumped up from her chair and ran towards the older femme who scooped her up in her arms, and the two shared a long, tight embrace. Slowmotion sighed quietly and averted his optics. Lightshow patted his out-stretched arm.

"I know the feeling," he said. "Its not easy to lose family."

The green mech nodded, then looked up with a smile again as the two femmes came up. Lightshow turned to them as well.

"Hey guys, this is Arcee, my sister," Haze said. "Arcee, meet Slowmotion and Lightshow."

"Nice meeting ya," said Lightshow.

"I should thank you for taking care of Haze," Arcee said. "I was growing rather worried for her, but I had no means of coming all the way back to Sector 2. thank you for bringing her to me."

"Not a problem," Lightshow replied.

"I wish we could stay for the show tonight so you could meet Jazz," Haze told her sister. "But I guess we have a lot of catching up to do huh?"

"You got that right Hazey," Arcee said.

"Say goodbye to Jazz for me will ya Lightshow?" Haze asked. "And tell him thanks for both of us?"

"Will do," said Lightshow.

"Oh and Strings and Electro too! Eventhough I know Electro didn't like me much."

Slowmotion laughed. "I'll do that."

Arcee nudged the younger femme. "Lets go."

Haze began to walk away, then stopped, walked back to Lightshow and gave him an extra-long hug. The mech felt his faceplate warm.

"Give Jazz a hug for me too ok?" she whispered in his audio.

"Hehe, no problem," Lightshow replied.

When the femme pulled back, he saw a little optic fluid staining her cheekplates.

"Hey," he said. "No tears young bot. You found your sister. Just remember what I told you. Now go on, she's waiting for you."

Haze nodded. With a small wave to both mechs, she rejoined Arcee and the two femmes walked out of the club. Slowmotion nudged Lightshow.

"You think Arcee's a hottie don't you?" he asked.

"She's alright," Lightshow admitted. "Though if we ever got together, I'd insist she change her paint scheme."

"Not a fan of pink huh?"

"Not quite. Now c'mon, I've got a message to deliver."

--------------------------------------------


	10. Friction

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the canon Transformers, I own the others. Songs are property of Jamie Brown and myself.

Wow... Totally forgot that I'd never finished publishing the whole thing... Terribly sorry for the wait, but here's chapter 10

~*~

Jazz looked up as Lightshow and Slowmotion came into the room. The next thing he knew, he was being hugged by Lightshow, though the term 'crushed to death' seemed to fit better.

"Lightshow, you do realize that I still have to appear on stage tonight. And somehow I doubt the audience wants to see a lead singer that looks like a spring."

Lightshow let go. "But why not? It'll put a little more bounce in our act."

"That was lame, even for you," said Electro.

"And by the absence of our guest, I take it Haze is gone," said Strings.

"Yeah, her sister came down and picked her up," said Slowmotion.

"That explains the hug," Jazz said.

"Hey, I'm just the delivery-mech alright," Lightshow replied.

Electro tossed a datapad at him. "Then sit down, get out your guitar, and deliver."

Lightshow caught the pad with ease. "She even said to say goodbye to you Electro."

The dark blue mech just grunted.

"SlowMo, you need to practice too, we've only got a few hours left till showtime," said Jazz. "So we're ready when you are."

Slowmotion twirled a drumstick in his hand. "Counting down… 4, 3, 2, 1!"

_Silver, the gleaming ground_

_Ebony, the dark of space._

_BRIDGE_

_Never are these bright as the glittering stars_

_Nor are they always as beautiful._

_CHORUS_

_But these are the hues of home_

_It is for these colors_

_Pretty, though they aren't_

_This is what we sing of_

_Our home_

_And the hues of home._

_Ash grey, dust blanket falling_

_Pulsing scarlet, creation's fire_

_BRIDGE_

_CHORUS_

_CHORUS_

… The audience broke out in lukewarm applause as they sipped on their drinks and carried on their conversations with each other. The group soon realized that their main purpose was to just stand there and play some easy-listening atmospheric music; they were not the main attraction at all. It irritated Electro to no end, especially after all the hard work and time he'd spent altering the musical arrangements of some of their songs. And he made his displeasure known after the show.

"Electro, its not like we can pick and choose where we play at," said Jazz. "We gotta take what we can get."

"Yeah, and you weren't the only one who worked hard on changing those songs," Lightshow added.

"Well you certainly weren't around so keep the slag out of this discussion," Electro retorted.

"Guys, can we please keep it down?" Strings requested.

"And the last I looked, you weren't the slagging leader of this group so stop trying to make yourself one," Lightshow snapped.

"Maybe if I was, we'd be able to get some decent playing locations for us."

"Provided there's anyone who'll follow you."

"Now hang on a second," Jazz interjected. "I've already said we ain't got no leader here. We're all equal."

"The way I see it," Electro went on, ploughing over what Jazz had said. "You're the only one who seems to have a problem with authority Lightshow."

"Only if said authority has slag clogging his exhaust," was Lightshow's reply.

"That's all your creator taught you isn't it?" Electro asked. "To make witty comebacks."

"Actually, I taught myself, so leave Flaire out of this," Lightshow snapped. "And at least I had a creator, instead of just being spat out of some machine."

"Guys, c'mon, this is silly," said Slowmotion.

"You're right, it is," said Lightshow. "I don't have to stand here and take this, not from the likes of him."

"Well if you don't like it, you can leave," said Electro.

"Good idea. I'm outta here." Lightshow left the room, slamming the door behind him.

There was silence for a good long while. Then Jazz got up and headed outside himself. The other two looked at Electro.

"If I may say so, that did not go well," said Strings.

"No slag," said Slowmotion. "Why'd you go tell him to leave anyway?" he asked Electro.

"It just came out alright. So what if he does leave us? He doesn't contribute anything anyway," Electro said.

"If he leaves, Jazz will go with him," Strings said. "If Jazz goes… I'd just apologize if I was you."

"For what? I said nothing wrong."

"You didn't have to go and bring his creator into it now did you?"

"I will apologize when I see fit."

~*~

Jazz ran out of the club. "Lightshow wait!"

The other mech stopped, looked back, and waited for Jazz to catch up with him. "I just wanna be along right now, ok Jazz?" he said.

"If you really wanted to, you wouldn't have waited for me to catch up…. Listen, you're not seriously thinking of leaving us are you?"

Lightshow looked as if he was considering. "Hmm… nah. Seriously, the thought never crossed my mind. I just came out here to blow off steam." He grinned.

Jazz was the tinge of sadness in his optics. "I'm sorry Flaire got dragged into it."

"Its ok, you're not the one who dragged him in."

"Electro's a proud mech. Wont be easy to get an apology out of him."

"I don't expect him to, and I'm not gonna try. At the same time, I think we'll keep out of each other's way for a while."

"Maybe a good idea, but don't let it drag on too long. We still need you guys to communicate."

"I'll do what I can Jazz, but I'm not making any promises to keep my mouth shut if he starts with me again."

"I know you wont… just do me a favor?"

"Doesn't mean I'll do it, but what?"

"Stop calling me the leader."

"Tell me why. Give me one good reason to."

"Because I'm not."

"Sorry, not good enough. Doesn't matter what you say Jazz, you can deny it till Primus awakens, but the fact is, we're all looking to you to take us in the right direction."

"And what if I don't? What if I lead you astray?"

"We'll still follow."

"Why?"

"'Cause you're the only one of us who's ever turned words into actions."

"I don't know how successful we'll be, don't know how much our efforts will pay off."

"Beats sitting around and doing nothing, wondering where our lives are going. You gave us a purpose Jazz, something to live for."

Jazz sighed, but didn't argue. Instead he inclined his head to the door. "Are you gonna come back inside?"

"I was thinking I'd stay out here for the night. I kinda miss the streets."

"Good. Then I'll stay with you. I kinda miss the streets too."


End file.
